


Three Is Never a Crowd

by SapphicScholar



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Crack, F/F, F/F/F Triad in some chapters, Fluff, Multi, Poly V in others, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Power Play, Praise Kink, Pre-Poly, Smut, body swapping, director sanvers, kink negotiations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-12-06 13:53:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 68,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11602002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: All of my Director Sanvers one-shots and shorter multi-part arcs will be moving here! Some of them will feature the three lovely ladies as a triad (all of them dating as a unit); other chapters will feature them as a V with Alex as the hinge partner; everything will be labeled or noted in the chapter summary!They're prompt-based, so if you've got something you'd like to see, let me know here in the comments or on Tumblr @sapphicscholarwrites!





	1. Netflix and Chill

Since Chapter 1 notes end up describing the whole work, here they are! Director sanvers prompt: Netflix and chill!!! Pretty much they’re watching a movie and they get all soft and cuddly and well kissing and some lovely smutty-ness ensues (reason is up to you), it’s soft and very intimate!

 

Movie night in their household was always a bit of an event. Between a detective, the Director of the DEO’s desert base, and the second-in-command at the DEO’s city base, finding time alone was a challenge, though they tried to carve out one night a week for a date night with all three of them. This Friday, they had finally secured a night when none of them were on duty or even on call. So, after a delicious dinner that Maggie had prepared with Lucy’s help and Alex’s loving support from the sidelines, they happily settled in for a movie.

Alex brought out several boxes of candy for the film. Since she wasn’t particularly useful in the kitchen, she took it upon herself to at least buy the snacks for movie night, and she had to say, she was fairly certain she had outdone herself this time if her girlfriends’ expressions were anything to go by.

“Hot cocoa?” Alex offered.

“Yes please!” Lucy yelled from the bedroom where she was changing into pajamas.

“Me too! With almond milk!” Maggie chimed in.

“Yes, dear,” Alex replied, laughing that Maggie still reminded her. It was one time—one time!—that she had messed up and served Maggie a hot chocolate with skim milk, and the woman still wouldn’t let her forget.

While Alex prepared the cocoa, Maggie set up the movie and Lucy lit the fireplace, adjusting the logs until it was crackling perfectly, casting the room in a warm glow. Even though it wasn’t “Nebraska cold,” as Maggie continually reminded her California girls, National City had been going through a bit of a cold spell, and they had even gotten a few days of light snow. In honor of the weather, Maggie decided that they should watch Carol again. After all, there was snow in the movie. It didn’t matter that the movie seemed to make it into their rotation no matter what the season was—Maggie claimed it was one of the best lesbian movies of all times (and, having been out the longest, she would know); Alex insisted that the cinematography and score were gorgeous enough to justify watching it on near repeat; and Lucy, well, Lucy was pretty honest about her aesthetic appreciation of Cate Blanchett and those cheekbones.

Within a few minutes, a tray was set out in front of the sofa loaded with boxes of candy and three steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Alex sat down in the middle of the sofa, holding her arm out as Lucy snuggled into her side. Maggie hurried back carrying a stack of fleecy blankets. After flicking off the lights and grabbing the remote, she curled into Alex’s other side, draping two blankets over all of them.

“Ready?” Maggie asked. Receiving nods from both Lucy and Alex, Maggie hit play and settled in to watch the movie.

They sat in rapt attention through the first half of the movie, moving only to drink their cocoas and grab handfuls of candy. Around the time they got to the scene in Waterloo, though, Lucy began shifting restlessly, her hand lingering on Alex’s stomach and thighs. She let out a small whimper at the sight of the two characters moving together. Even though Maggie and Alex had come to expect this reaction from Lucy, it still made Alex bite her lip and force back a moan, while Maggie just rolled her eyes at her girlfriend’s antics.

Maggie, however, couldn’t help but get choked up during the custody hearings. Normally she could power through, but today, she felt the need to pause the movie for a minute. She’d had a rough week, dealing with a few domestic abuse calls and some bias-related crimes, and seeing a woman’s child being forcibly taken from her simply because she loved women broke her heart.

“I’m so glad we live now,” Maggie whispered. “I know it’s not perfect—I’m not blind—but I just, well, I like that I could find you. I like that we can have an apartment together and that, in most places in California, we only get glares because there are three of us, not because we’re all women.”

Normally Lucy would have teased Maggie a bit for her rare moment of sentimentality, but she sensed that there was more to today’s short speech than just the movie.

Alex leaned forward, wrapping her arm around Maggie and drawing her closer. “I’m just glad you were brave enough to come out in a place that wasn’t California, that you were strong enough to help me find my own way out of the closet, even if it took time.” She kissed Maggie’s cheek, then closer to her mouth, then finally let their lips meet. Turning back toward Lucy, she pulled her in closer as well. “And you, all those years in the military, I mean, you’re strong too. You were both so brave in situations that weren’t ideal, in situations that were more like Carol’s.”

“You were brave too, Al,” Lucy added, her voice soft as she carded her fingers through Alex’s short hair. “You’ve had to be strong enough for Kara your whole life. Coming out—that was just a new type of strength.”

Maggie nodded in agreement. “You’re brave, Alex, even when you don’t give yourself credit for it. Both of my girls are.” She leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Lucy’s lips. She had intended to draw back and press play again, but when she went to move, Lucy’s fingers pulled her back in as she let out a soft whimper at the increased pressure.

Sensing what was happening, Alex combed Lucy’s hair over her shoulder and began kissing her way up and down Lucy’s neck, whispering loving comments against her skin. She let her free hand drift up and under Maggie’s shirt, curling around her back as she ran her fingers up and down the soft skin.

Making sure that Alex didn’t feel left out, Lucy pulled back from Maggie, moving the other woman’s hand to her bare thigh, as she reached out to Alex, moving the redhead up from her neck. “I love you, Alex. I love that you and Maggie let me in, let me in to your lives and your home.”

“It’s our home,” Alex interjected, not wanting Lucy to feel like she was an extra added in at some later time. “It’s not us and you. It’s all of us. Always.”

Ignoring the feeling of hot tears threatening to fall, Lucy leaned forward and met Alex in a kiss, running her tongue across Alex’s lip and moaning softly when she was granted entrance. Maggie could feel the exact moment when Lucy’s tongue slipped into Alex’s mouth by the feeling of Alex’s grip tightening around her side.

“I know we’re all very flexible, but perhaps we should move this to the bedroom,” Maggie suggested, grinning at the pouts being sent her way by both of her girlfriends.

“Fine,” Lucy conceded, offering a hand to Alex to help her off the couch, where she had gotten rather cozy in the blanket nest.

“I don’t get a hand up?” Maggie asked, her voice tinged with mock indignation.

Laughing softly, Alex bent over and scooped the woman up into her arms bridal style. “Better?”

“Much,” Maggie whispered, taking the opportunity to kiss and suck at Alex’s neck and collarbones as she was being carried to the bed.

After carefully setting Maggie down on top of their bed, Alex slowly pulled Maggie’s flannel pants off, checking in that she was okay with it, only to receive a very enthusiastic “yes.” As Alex ran her hands up and down the newly exposed skin, Lucy removed Maggie’s shirt, dropping her mouth down to the woman’s chest and taking a nipple into her mouth while her hands touched as much skin as they could find.

Alex kicked her pants off as she settled in between Maggie’s legs drawing her arms around Maggie’s hips as she kissed across Maggie’s boyshorts where a rather noticeable wet patch had developed.

Maggie whimpered at the sight of her two girlfriends tending so carefully to her needs. She tugged at Lucy’s shirt. “Off?” she whispered, and Lucy quickly complied, leaving only her boxer shorts on.

None of them talked about why tonight was about Maggie; they knew, had known since the first time they all watched Carol together and Maggie had broken down crying. It had been the first book she’d ever read where the lesbian gets a happy ending—not quite the storybook happy ending, but close enough. Her aunt had purchased it for her during the first week she spent with her, the first week she spent after her own parents had kicked her out of her home. But the hopeful ending didn’t erase all the pain that came first, all the pain that came from living in a society and among people who couldn’t recognize difference as anything other than intolerable.

So Maggie let herself be touched and held and loved by her girlfriends, knowing that she would return the favor, that there were nights when both of them needed something more, and she would be there for them. They would take care of Alex on nights when she felt like she had failed Kara, had failed to protect her bulletproof baby sister the way her mother expected her to, the way she expected herself to. They would hold Lucy close after her trips away, her time spent among old, white generals who couldn’t be convinced that the reversal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a positive change. But tonight—tonight was about Maggie.

“Can these come off?” Alex whispered, her fingers laced under the waistband of Maggie’s boyshorts.

“Yeah,” Maggie nodded, her lips soon recaptured by Lucy’s as the woman’s fingers tangled in her hair.

Alex gently tugged the last barrier down and, shedding her shirt, settled back between Maggie’s legs. Slowly at first, she ran her tongue up and down the length of Maggie’s pussy, moaning softly at just how wet Maggie already was for them. After a few minutes, she felt Maggie’s hands in her hair, urging her closer, and Alex let her tongue dip into Maggie. “You taste so good,” she whispered.

Maggie whimpered at that, bucking her hips up and into Alex’s mouth. With a grin, Alex took Maggie’s clit gently between her lips, flicking across it with her tongue.

As Maggie began to whimper and writhe more insistently, Lucy dropped her lips down to Maggie’s chest, sucking at Maggie’s breasts, feeling her nipples harden under her tongue.

With a low, murmured, “Fuck,” Maggie came, quivering under her girlfriends’ tongues, her hands buried in the comforter as Alex licked her through it.

When it seemed like Maggie was done, Alex crawled back up to her, kissing her deeply to let Maggie taste herself on Alex’s lips. Having decided that it wasn’t fair that Alex got all the fun, Lucy maneuvered herself down toward Maggie’s lower half and gently licked between Maggie’s thighs, cleaning her up, then letting her fingers ghost up and down her opening. “Can I?” she asked, earning a chorus of whimpers from both Maggie and Alex.

As she dipped two fingers inside of Maggie, slowly working her way into a rhythm that had Maggie thrusting up to meet her, she leaned up and drew Alex into her with her free hand. Alex bent over and captured Lucy’s lips in a heated kiss, sharing the taste of Maggie between them.

Watching her girlfriends make out on top of her, Alex’s hands trailing up and down Lucy’s bare torso, Maggie whined and panted, pumping her hips harder and faster against Lucy’s fingers.

Taking the hint, Lucy increased her speed as she moved her thumb around to put pressure on Maggie’s clit. Maggie teetered on the edge, watching her girlfriends with bated breath.

“Come for us, Mags,” Lucy purred, her voice low and raspy.

And with a strangled cry, Maggie fell back into the pillows, waves of pleasure crashing over her as Lucy worked her through her orgasm. Lucy drew back up to kiss Maggie, make sure she still felt safe and loved. When Maggie dropped her head back down to the pillows, she caught sight of Alex, sucking Lucy’s fingers clean, while her own fingers circled her clit.

“Need something, Danvers?” Maggie asked, a teasing grin playing across her mouth.

Blushing a faint pink, Alex pulled her hand back. “No, no, just watching.” Sensing further protests coming from Maggie, Alex dropped down to the pillows and curled around Maggie. “I just want to cuddle you, that’s all.”

“That’s all until tomorrow morning,” Lucy promised, kissing Maggie and then Alex softly as she pulled the comforter up and around them. “I’ll get the fire. Then I want snuggles when I come back.”

“Deal.”


	2. Body Swap Part 1 (Pre-Director Sanvers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request from recklesslove: If you're keen to continue the body swaps, I'd love to see Lena and Kara, or Lena and Maggie swap. Ooh or Lucy and Maggie but Lucy doesn't realise she's been body swapped and wakes up with Alex and just kinda goes with the making out that Alex initiates until Alex calls out Maggie's name or something.
> 
> Request from Iamdeltas: Could you do a bodyswap with Alex and Lucy? I miss Lucy and I want her to be in on all these bodyswap shenanigans!

“Danvers, on your right!” J’onn’s voice crackled through Alex’s comms as she rolled to her left to dodge the attack. But as soon as she was out of the way, the attack stopped. This attacker—Alex didn’t think human, though he looked humanoid—seemed intent on getting to her and her team, rather than seeking random destruction, which was, to be honest, more disconcerting.

“We’re sending in another team, do you copy?” J’onn barked.

“Yes, sir,” Alex got out before having to sprint away as he moved the car behind which she was crouched without even having to touch it.

A few minutes of cat-and-mouse-style dodging later, the other team showed up with Lucy in command and Vasquez on her second. The attacker paused his assault, looking up to survey the new additions. A wicked grin spread across his face at the sight of them, and he seemed to focus in on Lucy this time.

Lucy found her gaze drawn up to this new villain, and something inside of her felt as though it had shifted, leaving her weak and dizzy. As she crumpled to the ground, being saved from a nasty concussion only by Vasquez’s quick reaction, the villain snapped his fingers and was gone without a trace.

“J’onn, we need a med evac!” Alex yelled into her comm as she rushed across the alleyway toward Lucy and her team. “Luce, Lucy, are you okay? Stay with me,” Alex called out, checking all of Lucy’s vital signs.

“Ma’am, you go track him down. I’ll make sure she’s okay until the med team shows up,” Vasquez added, placing a comforting hand on Alex’s arm.

Alex nodded and jogged off to survey the area. With no sight of him, she called Maggie’s work phone, figuring NCPD should get a fair warning. But there was no answer. She tried Maggie’s cell and heard an unfamiliar voice answer. “Have fun!” the anonymous person cackled, then hung up.

Alex quickly called J’onn, explaining that she suspected their villain (or another one, it didn’t really matter) had gotten to Maggie. She instructed Winn to trace Maggie’s cell phone and was on her motorcycle the second she got coordinates from him.

Breaking just about every traffic law, Alex raced across town, desperate to get to Maggie and make sure she was safe. When she got to the coordinates Winn had specified, she glanced around, trying to find her girlfriend. Spotting a police cruiser, she jogged across the street, only to find Maggie slumped forward in her seat.

She tried not to panic, schooling herself to remember her training, remember every step to make sure that Maggie was alright. While calling in for another med team, she threw open the door and undid Maggie’s seatbelt so it wouldn’t be cutting into her neck. She carefully sat Maggie back up in the seat and began checking her vitals, grateful to find that she had a pulse—weak but steady, there.

Within minutes, the med team had arrived and took over, though Alex hovered on the periphery, pacing as she tried not to let her desperation and fear show. One of the medics came over to Alex to explain what was going on. “It looks like she got hit with whatever Director Lane did. Same symptoms, but I’ll have you know that Director Lane is already coming to again.” Alex looked slightly relieved, though she wouldn’t be okay until she watched Maggie wake up, was able to run tests on her herself and ascertain that no serious damage had been done.

Since she wasn’t allowed to be next to Maggie just yet, she settled for barking orders into her comms, demanding that whoever the hell this alien was be made priority number one, given that he was targeting specific individuals related to the DEO. She didn’t mention that he also seemed to be going after the women in her life—her girlfriend, one of her only close friends, and herself, though he seemed to be content to let her wait while he attacked the others.

“We’re going to take Detective Sawyer back to the DEO’s med bay. She’s showing signs of progress, but it’s better to treat her there, okay?” the medic confirmed with Alex while the rest of his team loaded Maggie into the ambulance. Alex was pleased to see signs of life and slight movement coming from the stretcher. She nodded and quickly hopped on her bike, trailing behind the ambulance all the way to the DEO.

While Maggie was in with the doctors, Alex paced around command central, demanding answers that no one had yet. The other agents quickly learned to skirt around the central area, following the winding hallways to and from the back rooms lest they incur Agent Danvers’ wrath for not having caught their mystery man yet.

Eventually J’onn came out and guided Alex back to his office, asking her in a calming voice to please sit down.

“Why?” Alex snapped.

“We are doing the best that we can to catch whomever did this, but that means you need to trust that all of your fellow agents are doing their best.”

“Well their best isn’t good enough.”

“Maggie and Lucy have both woken up, and all initial tests show no long-lasting results. There were some anomalies in their CT scans—they’re displaying slightly different patterns of brain activity than we would normally expect—but it’s nothing too concerning to the doctors. They want both women to report back daily for the next week, but otherwise they are free to leave our care.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded. “Does Lucy have someone to stay with her through the night?” Alex definitely didn’t feel comfortable having the woman go all the way back to the desert base, but she worried that she would try to stay on her own tonight. And what if something happened? Alex wouldn’t be able to live with herself, especially given the gnawing suspicion that somehow these attacks were tied back to her in some way, that her mere existence had put both of these women in danger.

“I’m not sure, but she is welcome to stay with me if she needs somewhere,” J’onn offered.

Knowing that it was a kind offer that Lucy would most definitely turn down, Alex shrugged. “She can come back to my place. God knows I’ll be up all night checking in on Maggie anyway.”

J’onn nodded and smiled at Alex. He wouldn’t say anything to embarrass her, but he was rather proud of the woman she had grown up to become.

Strolling into the med bay, Alex found both Maggie and Lucy sitting side-by-side on examination tables. “Alright, I hear you two are free to go!” she cheered, trying to sound happy and enthusiastic. The unimpressed looks on both of their faces suggested that she wasn’t all that successful at masking her anxiety.

“Free to go with supervision,” Maggie clarified.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here,” Alex added.

“Enjoy your freedom,” Lucy announced melodramatically, reaching out her hand to Maggie as though she were Jack letting Rose go in Titanic.

“Oh knock it off,” Alex shushed Lucy, swatting her hand down. “I’m here for you too. Get your butt off the bed and follow me.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Lucy winked.

“Did they give you something?” Alex asked, trying to figure out what had gotten into Lucy.

“Nah, it’s just nice to be back in the city. I mean, the desert base has its perks. Weird, covert operations feel. Vasquez’s sassy comm commentary. A resident mascot in the form of that weird bat that always attacks Kara. But still, good to be back, even if the first thing that happened to me was some freak attack thing.”

Alex threw an arm around Lucy. “It’s good to have you back, Luce.” Catching sight of Maggie who was staring at them curiously, Alex added, “Oh, I assume you’ve met Maggie, my girlfriend?”

“Oh please, we’re old friends. Hours together in the med bay will do that to ya. Proud of you for finally strolling on out of that closet and snagging yourself a hot girlfriend in the process,” Lucy teased, nudging Alex with her shoulder.

Alex grinned at Maggie before turning back to Lucy. “What do you mean ‘finally’?”

“Oh, honey,” Lucy drawled, earning a hearty laugh from Maggie. “It’s okay, everyone has their own timelines.”

Alex grumbled but was soon distracted by Maggie’s arms around her. “Take us home? Please,” she pleaded, feeling rather restless after spending so many hours stuck on the examination table.

“Damn, buy your third a drink first,” Lucy whistled, winking at the blushing couple.

\---

By the time they got back to Alex’s apartment, Alex was truly starting to believe Lucy’s suggestion that she and Maggie had become fast friends, if the way they worked in unison to tease Alex mercilessly was any indication.

“I hate you both. Get into pajamas and get into your beds,” Alex ordered when they got back upstairs.

“Whatever, mom,” Lucy teased, sticking her tongue out at Alex. “Also, I don’t have pajamas with me. So either let me borrow something or don’t complain about me sleeping in the nude.”

Alex stammered and blushed at the image that appeared unbidden in her mind. “Uh, right, yes, shirt. And shorts. Yep.”

Maggie furrowed her eyebrows, looking after Alex, who was, at the moment, tripping on her way to the closet. Clearly nothing had happened between Alex and Lucy, if Alex’s big gay panic moment was any indication, but it sure seemed like there was some unresolved sexual tension between them. She made a mental note to get the full story later.

Alex quickly returned with three t-shirts and three pairs of boxer shorts, distributing them so that everyone had pajamas.

Without hesitating, Lucy pulled her shirt over her head, exposing her tanned and toned upper body to Alex and Maggie. Maggie felt guilty for staring (and, she suspected, drooling) until she looked over and caught sight of Alex’s jaw on the floor as she took in the image of Lucy standing there in only a bra.

Lucy bit back a grin at the sight of the two women trying to hide their staring. Figuring she would push her luck, see how far it would go, Lucy reached her arm behind her back and unclipped her bra, noting how both Alex and Maggie studiously turned around and looked at the floor the second her bra fell away. Shrugging, she pulled the shirt on over her head. “I’m decent!” she called out. “Well, actually, pants…” she trailed off, pulling them off to put on the boxer shorts.

Of course, Alex had turned around again as soon as Lucy called out that she was decent, only to find Maggie with her back to Lucy totally topless changing into her own pajamas and Lucy’s ass stuck up in the air as she bent down to kick off her pants. The high-pitched squeak she made quickly drew Maggie’s and Lucy’s attention back to her, and the sight of both of them, who were still only in oversized t-shirts—her oversized t-shirts—was nearly enough to do her in. She was far too gay to be dealing with this. Stammering and blushing, Alex quickly excused herself, grabbing her own pajamas and running to the bathroom to change, as she had assumed everyone else would do.

When she came back out into the living room, everyone was blessedly dressed. Lucy had wrapped a blanket around herself and was curled up on the couch, while Maggie prepared a pot of tea in the kitchen. “Type?” Maggie called out.

“Chamomile,” Lucy chimed in.

“Peppermint,” Alex added. She wondered at the domesticity of the scene, but quickly shook it from her head. Lucy was only in for the night, and beside, what was she even thinking about? The three of them playing some weird version of house?

Unaware of the odd train of thought running through Alex’s head, Lucy asked if they wanted to watch something, and Maggie and Alex both agreed. Soon they were all settled into the couch under the blankets watching old Law and Order reruns with mugs of tea.

When Alex noticed Lucy starting to slump down as her eyes drifted shut, she carefully grabbed the mostly empty mug and placed it on the end table. She nudged Maggie to head to bed, while she busied herself with turning off the television and helping Lucy get comfortable with pillows under her head and a blanket wrapped around her. “Night, Luce,” she murmured, fighting off the sudden urge to kiss Lucy’s forehead.

Alex shook her head and made her way to the bathroom. Once her face was washed and her teeth brushed, Alex hit the last of the lights and climbed into bed with Maggie. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she whispered.

“Me too. Thanks for getting to me so quickly. The medics told me everything that happened,” Maggie explained. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” With a quick kiss goodnight, Alex let herself be wrapped up in Maggie’s arms and pulled in to snuggle.

\---

The next morning, Alex rolled over in Maggie’s arms, grinning at the sight of her girlfriend sleeping peacefully. After the day they had had yesterday, there was no better way to wake up. Well, okay, maybe one better way…but they had company—company that was currently passed out on the couch. Alex settled for a few light kisses to Maggie’s lips, primarily as a way to remind herself that Maggie was alive and well and breathing.

Seeing Maggie’s eyes blinking open, Alex smiled. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

“Mm, morning,” came the response, followed by a large yawn. Lucy blinked her eyes open, startling slightly as she realized that she had somehow ended up in Alex’s bed. And that Alex was kissing her. Perhaps she was dreaming still. It wasn’t exactly uncommon, though ever since Alex had been moved to the downtown based those dreams had grown much less common. Of course, the news of Alex’s coming out brought back certain thoughts, but she largely kept on top of it, especially when she knew she’d be seeing J’onn.

But then Alex was leaning back in and smiling softly and stroking her cheek, and Lucy gave herself over to whatever this was—be it a dream or a fantasy or one of those things coming true. Because Alex was holding her, and Alex was deepening the kiss, and Alex was slowly rolling on top of her and tracing her hands down her side.

“Alex,” Lucy gasped.

“God, Mags, I love you,” Alex murmured into Maggie’s neck.

“Wait, what’d you call me?” Lucy asked, her eyes snapping back open.

The commotion woke Maggie, and she was soon flinging herself up and off of the couch at the sight of Alex very clearly in bed with another woman. Very clearly on top of another woman with her lips on her neck and her hands somewhere she couldn’t see. “What the fuck?” she snapped.

Alex jumped off of Maggie’s body and spun around, catching sight of Lucy standing next to the couch and glaring at her. “Sorry! I just, I just wanted to wake up my girlfriend, didn’t mean to get you too.”

At that Maggie glanced back at the bed, finding…herself? She ran the few lengths between the couch and Alex’s bed. “What the fuck? Why are you…why are you me?”

Lucy surveyed someone in her body speaking to her. “Where’s a mirror, Alex?” she demanded. As soon as Alex motioned to the doors of her closet, Lucy was up and moving, dragging her doppelganger with her. “Huh,” she declared, standing in front of the mirror and running her hands along a face that was not hers.

“What?” Alex asked, feeling very out of the loop.

“It would seem that we switched bodies.”

“No way!” Alex declared. “We’ve got that damn device locked up under so many degrees of security now.”

“What device?” Lucy asked.

“It, it doesn’t matter. Let me call J’onn.”

A few minutes later, Alex returned with bad news. “So, the device is still safely locked up, which means that we don’t have any clear answers on how to switch you two back, but J’onn thinks it has something to do with the attacks you sustained.”

“Weird,” Maggie mumbled. “So I take it we need to go to the DEO?” Alex nodded. “Good thing the NCPD already gave me off for today after yesterday’s attack. Would be a little weird to show up in a new body.”

“Or we could switch places for the day,” Lucy offered.

“Yeah, well, you already made out with my girlfriend,” Maggie shot back.

“Hey, wait. Why didn’t you say anything?” Alex asked Lucy, confusion written across her face.

“Oh, um, I don’t know,” Lucy shrugged, figuring now was not the time to admit that she thought it was one of her many recurring dreams about Alex or that she had even dared to hope that somehow Alex had decided to let something happen between them.

Maggie narrowed her eyes at the lack of explanation, becoming increasingly curious about whatever it was that had transpired between these two before she met Alex.

“But you, you’re okay?” Alex asked, turning toward Maggie in Lucy’s body.

“Yeah, thanks,” Maggie muttered. “Just confused, but I suppose that’s what working in the Science Division is all about.”

Alex laughed humorlessly. “Ah yes, fun times with aliens. Never a dull day.”

Maggie shook her head. “I’ll get breakfast started if you want to put on the coffee.”

Lucy tried to figure out how to back away from the situation, feeling as though she were intruding on a very private, domestic moment.

Alex nodded and walked toward the kitchen. “Can I, can I kiss you good morning?” she asked, unsure to whom she should direct the question. She just wanted to know that her Maggie was okay and also to reassure Maggie that she wasn’t going to cheat on her. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to wake up to that image, especially since she knew that she had acted a bit flustered around Lucy the night before.

“Yeah,” Maggie nodded, turning to Lucy to see if she was going to object.

Of course, after nearly having to admit to Alex that she fantasized and dreamed about her on a semi-regular basis, Lucy wasn’t going to say no to anything that demonstrated how okay she was with Alex’s relationship. But when Alex pulled Maggie in, when Alex pulled in someone that looked just like her—was her, physically—and kissed her softly, lovingly, something inside Lucy broke a little, wondering about how different things might have been if they had met a bit later. And when Maggie deepened the kiss slightly, needing to remind herself that Alex was still with her, hadn’t gone running off at the first sign of something better, the moment her shiny veneer wore off, Lucy felt heat rush through her body, coming to rest between her legs as she chastised herself for the inappropriate reaction to what wasn’t her moment with Alex.

“I, uh, I’m gonna go change,” Lucy added, quickly shuffling into the bathroom.

Alex pulled away, blushing slightly for having gotten a little lost in the kiss while Lucy was still right there—Lucy who she had accidentally made out with that morning. She shook her head and quickly pulled out her own clothes, figuring she should get dressed as well so that they could get to the DEO as soon as possible. Maggie did the same, but as soon as she stood in front of Alex in only underwear, she realized that it wasn’t exactly her body she was showing off. And those weren’t her breasts that Alex was staring at. Maggie cleared her throat, getting Alex’s attention.

Blushing, Alex looked up and into Lucy’s eyes, reminding herself that it was still Maggie, but she probably shouldn’t be looking. It was all very confusing. Because inside was a woman she loved, was a woman who was comfortable with the fact that she loved her and loved her body and loved making love to her body. But that wasn’t the right body. But that body was also doing things to her. Because no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t quite distract herself from the way her pulse was racing or how her underwear felt uncomfortably damp. And that felt a lot like cheating on Maggie in some weird, fucked up way.

By the time Lucy came back out from the bathroom, Alex and Maggie were both fully dressed and sitting on the couch sipping coffee as they watched the news, looking for any sightings of their mystery man. Lucy poured herself a mug and grabbed a bagel, joining them but sitting in the armchair, apart from the couple.

“Any updates?” Lucy asked.

“No,” Alex shook her head, rubbing her temples at the stress headache she could already feel building. “Hopefully J’onn will have some answers, and maybe the med team or R&D will be able to come up with some solution to get you two back to normal.”

\---

As it turned out, no one was having any luck getting them back into their own bodies. Alex paced across the DEO, giving orders to anyone she could find to track down their attacker. Just as she was giving up hope, the man himself popped in front of her with a loud crack.

“You!” Alex growled, drawing her alien gun and aiming it at him. “Tell me how to reverse this!”

“True love, or maybe it’s just lust, how should I know?” he laughed, catching Alex’s gaze as she fell to the floor unconscious. Before anyone could apprehend him, he was gone with a flash. But J’onn had gotten a good look at him this time, looked into his thoughts. And he recognized the thoughts, even if the exterior was different. It was the same Music Meister who had come to attack Supergirl before portal-jumping into another earth. Only this time, it seemed as though his targets were all of this earth. He tried to figure out what the objective could be, given that his purported goal was to promote love however he saw fit, no matter how unethical the means. Though he also remembered that in the end, his goal seemed to have been pure mischief more than anything else. He shook his head and carried Alex down to the med bay.

When J’onn arrived with Alex he found a scene of total chaos. It seemed that when the Music Meister (or whatever name he was using these days, since musicals didn’t seem to be his M.O. this time around) had knocked out Alex, both Maggie and Lucy had passed out again as well. J’onn quickly provided the doctors with a summary of what had transpired upstairs, then left them to their work.

This time, all of the women were kept overnight for observation. Even though Alex grumbled at first, she was secretly glad for the separate beds to keep herself from growing any more confused.

\---

The next morning, Alex was woken up by a lab technician by her bedside wanting to check her vitals. “Good morning, Maggie,” he announced.

“What?”

“Sorry, Lucy! I forgot for a moment that you two had switched. The body thing is still rather disconcerting.”

“But I’m Alex,” Alex insisted.

“Oh, uh, let me go get the doctor…” the lab tech trailed off before turning and running for the back at full speed.

When the doctor came back, she quickly went to each one of them. Finally she announced, “It would seem you’ve all been switched again. Director Lane is in Agent Danvers’ body. Detective Sawyer is in Director Lane’s body. And Agent Danvers is in Detective Sawyer’s body. Any questions?”

“Yeah, how the hell are we getting back to normal?” Alex growled.

“I promise we’re working on it,” the doctor assured Alex, looking uncomfortable at having to deal with Agent Danvers, who was notoriously awful as a patient.

“And until then?”

“Until then you are not to be out in the field, Agent Danvers. You three will rest,” J’onn’s booming voice rang out through the room as he strode toward them.

“Sir,” Alex began to protest.

“This is not negotiable. Think about how awful you would feel if you irreparably harmed Detective Sawyer’s body because you weren’t used to fighting in it.”

Everyone saw the way Alex’s shoulders slumped at that, the fight slowly draining out of her body. “How’d you know it was me in Maggie’s body?”

“Your thoughts are still your own, Alex, and they’re rather…distinctive.”

Lucy and Maggie laughed, earning an offended glare from Alex. “Can we at least go back to my place?” She had no desire to spend any more time being poked and prodded by doctors who couldn’t do a thing for her.

“You may,” J’onn conceded, “as long as you all stay together and report back to the med bay each morning for testing.”

“Fine,” Alex grumbled, quickly standing up and throwing on a sweatshirt as she motioned for Lucy and Maggie to follow her.

\---

Back at Alex’s apartment, the three women tried to come up with ideas for how to switch back over dinner.

“What if we try the body swapping device we have?” Alex suggested.

“Is that the metal rod looking thing?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah.”

“They already tried when it was just the two of us. Didn’t work.”

“Hmm.” Alex looked forlorn. It wasn’t that she hated being in Maggie’s body, but she wanted to be back out in the field, and there was something odd about bickering with herself.

“Did the mystery Music Meister man say anything when you saw him today?” Maggie chimed in.

“Nothing useful. I mean, something weird about true love, but then he was giggling like a madman and everything went black.”

Lucy blushed a fantastic scarlet color in Alex’s body, wondering if there was some way that the villain had seen her thoughts. But no, she reasoned, he had locked in on her the second she arrived, long before she was alone with Alex. Another voice in her head reminded her that she had arrived to save Alex, so the redhead may well have been a high priority in her thoughts. But then, why her? Vasquez was there, and Lucy suspected that Vasquez also harbored quite the crush on the elder Danvers sister. Trying to distract from her racing thoughts, Lucy asked, “But you’ve met this guy before, right?”

“Barely,” Alex answered. “He showed up at the DEO, took out Kara with just a look, then hopped through a portal and went to another earth. For some absurd reason they didn’t let me come with them to save Kara, so J’onn and Mon-El were the only ones to really meet the guy, and only one of them is still around. I guess back then, the Music Meister was trying to get ‘true love’s kiss’ to happen, which is why he put them all in a musical. I don’t know, it’s confusing. But Kara kissed Mon-El, and Barry kissed Iris, and they all woke up again.”

“Did he tell you true love’s kiss would fix it?” Maggie asked.

“No, he said something about true love or maybe just true lust, but nothing about a kiss. Also, Kara was just passed out, not in a new body.”

“True lust?” Maggie repeated. “What is this? Some absurd fuck or die shit?”

“Fuck or die?” Alex asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

“Aww, someone never got into shitty fan fiction,” Lucy giggled, poking Alex in the side.

“What are you talking about?” Alex whined.

Maggie stepped in. “It’s a trope people use in fan fiction. It’s fine, Danvers, you came out late in life. One version is basically to stop someone from dying, they have to fuck another character—normally someone they’ve had a crush on for ages but won’t admit it for any number of reasons.”

“Excuse me,” Alex spat out, choking on her pizza. “We are not going to have sex because some demented Broadway reject told us to!”

“I didn’t say we should,” Maggie laughed. “It just sounds like we’re stuck in some weird story based on his words.”

“Oh,” Alex sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I just want to get back into my own body.”

“Same,” Maggie added.

“I’m chill. Now I’ve got a whole wardrobe of the world’s tightest jeans and a lifetime supply of leather jackets that fit just right,” Lucy teased. Her comments finally lightened the mood a little, getting Alex and Maggie to laugh.

“And I am getting to experience the world as a short person,” Alex conceded, sticking her tongue out at Maggie.

“What do I get?” Maggie asked, looking at Lucy.

“I’m an amazing dancer, but I think you probably need my head in there too,” she laughed.

“You are basically pure muscle,” Maggie admitted, flexing her stomach and poking at the toned muscle beneath her shirt. Alex tried not to pay attention to the conversation or all the flexing that was suddenly going on as Maggie and Lucy tested out their host bodies.

“Ooh! Push up contest!” Lucy exclaimed.

“No,” Alex protested.

“Hey! You think my body won’t win?” Maggie glared up at Alex, looking almost hurt, though her giggle soon gave her away.

“We are not pre-teen boys,” Alex clarified, rolling her eyes. “We don’t need to have some weird competition.”

“Buzzkill,” Lucy grumbled. “Well, if we’re not doing anything fun, we may as well go to bed.”

“Alright, Alex nodded.

Once they were all dressed and ready, Alex headed for her own bed. “You coming, Mags?”

Maggie looked over at Lucy, who just shrugged, trying to look like she didn’t care. “Okay, yeah,” Maggie called back, hurrying over to the bed.

Lucy stared on as her own body got in bed with Maggie’s. She had to admit, Alex’s girlfriend was rather adorable. Maybe even hot, if she were being totally honest. And she was fun, brought out a lighter side in Alex that was nice to see. Too often it seemed like Alex was carrying the world on her shoulders, but with Maggie, she got to shrug some of it off for a while. Not that she should be thinking about what amazing girlfriends either of them would make. No, that would be inappropriate.

Over in the bed, Alex tried not to focus on the fact that she was curled into Lucy’s body, tried not to notice how nice it felt or how it made her heart race. “Night, Mags.”

“Night, Alex. Love you,” Maggie yawned.

“You too,” Alex whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to Maggie’s cheek as the other woman fell asleep.

\---

The next morning, they were woken up by the sound of Kara’s voice booming through the apartment. “Alex! What the heck?”

Lucy sat bolt upright at the feeling of someone’s strong hands on her arm. “What?”

“Why are you on the couch? And why are they…?” Kara shielded her eyes at the sight of Maggie and Lucy curled up in Alex’s bed. “Seriously, does someone want to tell me what’s going on? I left for Metropolis for two days, and I come back to this!”

“Kara,” Alex began, realizing that she was speaking from Maggie’s body and needed to get everything out in the open soon. “It’s me, Alex. There was more body swapping.”

“Oh!” Kara jumped away from Alex’s body. “So…who is everyone?”

“Lucy,” Lucy volunteered, raising Alex’s arm.

“Maggie,” Maggie offered, indicating Lucy’s body.

“And again, I’m Alex.”

“Okay, weird. I thought you hated when we messed around with that device. Aren’t you the reason it’s now under so many layers of security?”

“Yes, I am because it’s not safe to play with it like a toy! But this wasn’t the device. That Music Meister guy, he’s going around in a new body, and he did this to us.”

“Am I singing?” Kara squealed.

“No. No, you are not. I don’t know, he just said something about,” Alex hesitated, “uh, about true love. But then he was giggling and disappearing on us.”

Kara crinkled her nose. “Have you tried kissing? Because that worked for me.”

“Kissing? Why didn’t we think of that?” Alex deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

“Alex, I know it sounds absurd, but he was weird like that. I mean, a kiss saved me from an actual gunshot wound when I was under his spell,” Kara explained.

“It’s worth a try,” Maggie shrugged. Without further preamble, she leaned over and kissed Alex, while Lucy cocked her head to the side at the image of Maggie and herself kissing. It wasn’t an…unpleasant sight.

“See, nothing.” Alex didn’t expect results, but she couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

“Well, no, but there are three of you? Did you kiss Lucy?”

“I already did,” Alex sighed. “By mistake! The first morning of the body swap.”

“And Maggie kissed her too?” Kara asked.

“What is this? Kinky geometry?” Alex laughed at the absurd things Kara seemed to be suggesting.

“Alex,” Kara sighed, “it’s his game. I’m not saying you should all make out or do more, which, ew, no, don’t need that mental image. I’m simply saying try kissing. I’ll leave, since clearly you feel weird about it. But then I’m coming back at 9 to walk all three of you over to the DEO and make sure nothing happens to you on the way.”

“It’s across the street,” Alex whined, hating how useless she felt these days.

“So it’ll be a quick walk,” Kara confirmed. “See you then!” And with that, she was out the window.

The three women sat in silence for another few minutes. “So…do we try it?” Maggie asked.

“Try what?” Alex asked.

“Kombucha,” Lucy deadpanned. Seeing the confused look on Alex’s face, she rolled her eyes. “No, Alex, kissing each other!”

“Oh, um, I don’t know.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Maggie offered. “It’s not like it’s the worst way to fix a problem.” Sure, she felt a little pang of what felt like jealousy at the knowledge that Alex and Lucy made out for a bit, but it was mainly the surprise factor there. And maybe, if she were being honest, the fact that she had been completely excluded from it. Because, as she had learned from too many experiences, a threesome could be fun as long as it didn’t become a twosome.

“Fine,” Alex grumbled. Throwing herself into this solution with the same intensity she did all things, Alex grabbed Maggie in Lucy’s body and kissed her hard, leaving Maggie’s head reeling. Within a few seconds, Alex was on her feet and striding across the apartment. Trying to shake the weirdness at kissing herself, she pulled Lucy close and kissed her, ignoring the way her stomach seemed to swoop at the knowledge of whom she was kissing. “Now you two,” Alex instructed, looking at the two dazed women now staring at her.

Maggie shuffled over to Lucy, trying to remind herself that it was okay. It was for the right reasons, and Alex wouldn’t suddenly freak out or accuse her of cheating on her. Lucy looked up into her own green eyes. “Here goes nothing.” She leaned in and pressed a tentative kiss to her own lips, feeling Maggie pull her in, probably just making sure the kiss registered as a kiss, she thought. And then everything was going black.

\---

Blinking rapidly, Alex tried to figure out where she was. As soon as the doctor saw her struggling, she ran over. “Ma’am, you’re okay. You’re at the DEO. Do you remember what happened last?”

Alex shook her head.

“Supergirl brought you in. She found all three of you passed out in your apartment and carried you here. Let me just check on the others. I’ll be right back.”

Other members of the team took the head doctor’s absence as a sign to move in and check on Alex’s vitals.

“Name?” one of them asked.

“Alexandra Danvers.”

“Oh.” He scurried across the room, grabbing the doctor again.

“Alex?” the doctor asked.

“Yes?”

“Well, it would seem you’re back in your body. We’re going to run some tests to make sure there isn’t any lasting damage.”

A long hour or two later, Alex found herself sitting in front of the doctor with Maggie and Lucy, both of whom were also in their own bodies once more. J’onn and Kara strolled in, intent on hearing the full results firsthand, rather than trusting Alex to admit if she shouldn’t be out in the field just yet.

“They appear to be fine again,” the doctor admitted, looking almost dumbfounded. “Even the CT scans are back to normal. It’s like it never happened.”

“How did you three get back?” J’onn asked.

“Did you try—?” Kara began, quickly getting a glare in return from a blushing Alex that told her all she needed to know. Apparently she had also thought about what it was they tried, as J’onn just nodded and made his way out of the med bay, muttering about things a father didn’t need to know.

“So, we’re free to go?” Alex asked, clearing her throat.

“Yes, but you’re not cleared to go back in the field for at least another 48 hours, and the Director has mandated that you spend the rest of the day at home resting.”

“What am I supposed to do all day?” Alex whined.

“It’s already 3,” Lucy chimed in, motioning to her watch.

“Oh, wow. I guess we were out for a while.” Alex stood and gathered her things.

As the three walked out of the DEO, Maggie figured she may as well mention the gargantuan elephant in the room “So, um, do we want to talk about why that worked when the solution was supposed to be true love?”

“He said it might just be lust,” Alex offered.

“Does that make it less of a thing that should be discussed?” Lucy asked, forcing a laugh.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know,” Alex shrugged.

“Pizza, beer, and uncomfortable conversations?” Maggie suggested.

Lucy shrugged, laughing as she heard Alex mumbling something about switching out her beer for a scotch. She suspected there were worse people to have this conversation with.


	3. Body Swap Part 2 (Director Sanvers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requests from Sarcasticallyinspired, RunToStandStill, genderwow, Lizabeth, Ashkela, and skey for a follow up from the Maggie/Alex/Lucy body swap for the conversation, the start of Director Sanvers, and some smut. I give you everything but the smut here (with a promise of Director Sanvers smut to come once I get around to posting some of the other prompts I've been given)

“I know we’re supposed to talk and that maybe talking isn’t best done while drunk, but could we maybe all start with a quick shot of something?” Alex suggested once they were all settled in back at her place.

Maggie, normally the one to object to drinking before important conversations, agreed that perhaps one drink wouldn’t hurt, so Alex pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured them all one finger’s worth, passing them down the table.

“To whatever the fuck we’re about to discuss,” Lucy announced, raising her glass in a toast.

Maggie rolled her eyes, and Alex smirked, but they both tossed back their whiskey like they were first years in college just figuring out how to drink and eager to impress anyone around them.

“Alright, so, um, how do we start?” Alex asked, already uncomfortable about what was to come.

“Let’s start with lust, rather than love, okay?” Maggie suggested. She didn’t really need to get into the question of whether her girlfriend was in love with another woman and had been this whole time. “So, um, Alex, are you attracted to Lucy?”

Startled, Alex blushed and stammered and reached for the whiskey, finding it being taken from her hands and put back on the counter.

“C’mon, Al, we’re all going to have to commit to being honest. Otherwise we may as well just all go home,” Maggie said softly, placing her hand on top of Alex’s. “I’m not mad at you, regardless of your answers, so don’t worry too much.”

Alex gulped and nodded. “Um, I mean, Lucy is, uh, aesthetically pleasing. I think we can all agree on that.”

Lucy preened, even if it wasn’t the best compliment she’d ever received.

“Maybe I should have started,” Maggie began, trying not to grit her teeth at Alex’s reluctance to speak for herself and only herself. “I think Lucy is hot. There, I said it.”

Alex looked shocked for a moment, before shrugging. “Yeah, I mean, yeah, okay. It makes sense. She is.”

“Aww, you’re both so sweet,” Lucy laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Your turn, Lane,” Maggie ordered, rounding on her. “You’re attracted to Alex, right?”

“Oh, uh,” Lucy gulped, unsure of how much to reveal. “Yes, I am,” she finally admitted, figuring that they were all willing to be upfront about the fact that they were an attractive group of women who all liked women (and men too, at least in her case).

“And what about Maggie?” Alex asked. “Obviously I’m attracted to her, but what about you?”

Looking appraisingly up and down Maggie’s body, Lucy nodded. “Sure, yeah, she’s sexy.”

“Thanks,” Maggie replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“So, does that take care of the lust bit?” Alex asked, hoping they could call it quits with the conversation.

“No, Alex,” Lucy shook her head. “Lust means you want to bang, not just that you think the other people are hot.”

“So do you?” Alex asked, surprising everyone with her boldness in a conversation she had been, thus far, rather reluctant to pursue.

Lucy froze for a moment. “Do I, um, what? Want to fuck you two? Sure.” She gulped, wondering if she might have pushed things too far.

“I might like that,” Maggie admitted. “Only if Alex was okay with it, though! I mean, I’ve been in, ya know, open relationships before. And I’ve been in exclusive relationships where we had threesomes and been the third in other people’s bedroom.”

Alex’s jaw dropped slightly, impressed at the wide variety of situations that Maggie seemed to have gotten herself into.

“So, uh, Alex, I guess, I mean, it doesn’t actually have to happen, but would you be okay with that? Or, I guess the better question is: would you want to have sex with me?” Lucy winced at her word choice, realizing that she had cut out Maggie inadvertently.

Alex nodded, looking over at Maggie to make sure she wasn’t saying something that would ruin her relationship.

“So, I guess we could leave it at that,” Maggie began, hesitating slightly before she continued, “but I don’t think, I don’t think that’s the only thing between you two.” Seeing the panicked look on Alex’s face, she added, “I’m not accusing you of anything! I just, right, you knew Lucy before you realized you were gay. And it sort of feels like there’s a backlog of unresolved feelings that’s coming to the surface now.”

Alex gulped and nodded. “If we’re moving on to the second question, can we get a second drink?”

“Only if we switch to beer. I want us to still be with it.”

Nodding, Alex got up and pulled three beers from the fridge, popping off the caps, then sliding them down the table. “Should I put in that order for pizza too?”

“I’ve got the app,” Lucy volunteered, pulling up the order form. Once they all got their preferences entered, they turned back to the conversation they had been putting off.

“I, um, I think, maybe, that I’m realizing that my feelings for Lucy back then weren’t entirely platonic,” Alex conceded. “I didn’t have a frame of reference for it, and at first I hated you,” she laughed, thinking back to Red Tornado and the lie detector test and literally being shipped to Cadmus. “But then you came and rescued me. On a motorcycle. In bulletproof armor. And then you were there for my sister, and you were willing to reconsider your stances when you took command at the DEO. So I respected you. But I never let myself think about what else I was feeling, and I think, well, I think I was attracted to you pretty early on, but then, I think maybe I came to like you over time. Once I got to know you as a person. But then you left, and I met Maggie, and I came out, and I had already fallen so hard for Maggie. Maggie, I still love you, and wouldn’t change a thing about what happened between us. Well, maybe not getting rejected that first time, but whatever… Since I had a relationship to go to right away, I guess I didn’t have to fully think back on the other women in my life, think back to what else might have been. Does that make sense?”

Maggie nodded. “That’s sort of why I said no at first. I wanted you to see what was out there, not just to settle with me because I was the first lesbian to give you attention.”

“But I’m not!” Alex insisted, pulling her chair up to Maggie’s. “Seriously, no part of what we have is settling. I adore you, Maggie Sawyer, and it wouldn’t have mattered if you were the first or the fortieth lesbian I met and dated—I still would have felt that way.”

Picking at the wrapper on her beer bottle, Lucy tried not to pay too much attention to the conversation playing out in front of her.

“And Lucy?” Maggie asked, clearing her throat.

“What about Lucy?” Lucy asked.

“Do you, uh, do you have feelings for Alex?”

Lucy took a large gulp of her beer, then another, then another, finishing the bottle. “Yes,” she admitted, nodding slowly.

“How long?” Alex asked, her voice soft as she reached a hand across the table, stopping just shy of Lucy’s fingers as though she were unsure about whether or not she could touch them.

After closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, Lucy finally began: “When I first met you, I thought you were a pain in the ass and a traitor to this country. An incredibly hot traitor, but still a traitor. But then Kara came out to me—as Supergirl, I mean—and I thought back to conversations I’d had with Lois and started reconsidering my ideas about my dad and all the positions I had sort of unthinkingly inherited from him. And then, I don’t know, I got to watch you be a fucking badass DEO agent. I watched you save countless lives without a thought for your own safety—you were always putting your sister and J’onn and your agents first. And that was…well, it was inspiring. And hot. Once James and I broke up, I flirted with you, though I’ll assume those attempts went straight over your head if you thought Maggie was the first queer lady to ever notice you. But you seemed so straight, and then you moved to the downtown base, so I didn’t really think about it again until you came out. And I couldn’t help wondering what might have happened if you’d realized earlier. Or if I’d met you later. Or if I’d been more direct with my attempts to get your attention, you know? I would never want to get between you and Maggie, though! You two seem great together, but I just, I don’t know, you said to be honest,” Lucy trailed off.

By the time Maggie felt like she was in control of her emotions enough to look over at Alex, she found that her girlfriend seemed to be on the verge of tears at Lucy’s rather emotional speech. She cleared her throat. “I, uh, I mean, I don’t want to stand in the way of that, if that’s something you both still, well, still want.”

“Maggie!” Alex spun around. “I don’t, no, I would never cheat on you or leave you. I love you, Maggie. I still love you. Always.”

“I mean,” Maggie shrugged, trying to make it seem casual, “if you wanted to see other people too. I can understand that being something that you might want to try. I’m not the only person out there that would kill for the chance to be your girlfriend, Alex, and you have every right to experience that.”

“I’m not into being a homewrecker,” Lucy volunteered, drawing back into herself as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Maggie shook her head. “I didn’t say I wanted to stop being with Alex. Unless, of course, she wants to, well, break up.” Maggie’s voice cracked but she chose not to acknowledge it. “You two clearly have a history, and I don’t want either of you to have to live with those what ifs forever. I don’t need Alex to carry around regrets over missed opportunities for the rest of our time together.”

“Are you…are you telling me to date Lucy too?” Alex asked, pulling her eyebrows together as she tried to figure out what was going on.

“I’m saying I would understand if you wanted to, Alex.”

Taking a large gulp of her beer, Alex blurted out, “I might like that, but I wouldn’t want to do it without you.”

“What?” Lucy and Maggie both asked.

Before Alex could respond, the pizza delivery boy was calling to say that he was locked outside the apartment building, since the buzzer was broken. Lucy volunteered to run downstairs for it, leaving Alex and Maggie alone to talk about Alex’s thoughts.

“What do you mean?” Maggie asked, taking Alex’s hands in her own.

“I mean, if I’m going to date Lucy, I don’t want to try to juggle the two of you like competing relationships. I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating on you. And I know that you’ve done open relationships, but that doesn’t feel like something that works for me. But if, I don’t know, if somehow we were doing this together—monogamously—I might, I don’t know, I might want to try it.”

“So you mean we would both date Lucy…all three of us would be, like, a three-person couple?”

Alex seemed to hesitate, but then nodded. “I don’t know, according to Buzzfeed it’s in now,” she laughed. “But seriously, I just, I don’t want to sacrifice the closeness we have now, and I think that if I tried to date Lucy separately, we would…grow apart. Slowly. But maybe you’re right, maybe I shouldn’t let Lucy hang around my neck as this possibility I never got to explore. But if you don’t want to try, then I’m fine not trying. Because, Maggie, you matter so much to me. You said you didn’t want to imagine your life without me—and I know, then, you were talking about friendship or something, I don’t know, it was all very confusing for me—and I feel the same way. I don’t want to have to go on without you, Mags.”

Maggie blinked back tears at the honesty in Alex’s statement. “Look, I don’t know Lucy that well. We don’t have history. All we have is the past few weird days. Sure, we spent a lot of time together, including all that time in the med bay before you got hit by the Music Meister guy too. And I’ll admit, she’s fun and funny, and I could see having a crush on her and wanting to date her if we weren’t together. But we don’t have the kind of emotional intensity you two do, so you need to know that going into whatever it is we might try.”

Nodding, Alex pulled Maggie into her chest, hugging her close. “I know. But I also, if we do something, I want you two to…cultivate that same type of relationship. Because if it doesn’t work between two of us, it doesn’t work between any of us.”

“We have pizza,” Lucy called out from the doorway, balancing two large boxes as she maneuvered through the door.

“I’ll get the plates!” Maggie volunteered.

“Another round of beers?” Alex asked, getting a chorus of “yes” and “please” in return.

“So…what’d you two talk about while I was gone?” Lucy asked, wondering if she wanted to know the answer.

Figuring there was no use beating around the bush anymore, since she’d already gotten the heavy emotional walkthrough out of the way with Maggie, Alex blurted out: “What do you think about dating both of us? Monogamously.”

“Uhm, like, a triad?”

Alex looked confused, but Maggie chimed in, “Yes, exactly. I know you and I don’t really know each other that well yet, but, well, Alex thinks we should try.” She quickly added, “And I’m not opposed to the idea. I think, well, you’re someone I could see myself dating. So if you’re up for it, I am too.”

Trying to process everything that had just come at her, Lucy nodded slowly. “So…all three of us? We’d date? And do those things that come with dating?”

Alex flushed red but nodded.

“I guess…I guess I’d be willing to try. I mean, I’m new to your whole thing. I don’t want to jump right in to whatever level of domesticity you’ve got going on without me. So, you know, dating for now—not necessarily in a long-term, committed lesbian relationship yet.”

Maggie nodded. “I still want to get to know you better.”

“Right, yeah, I think that’s for the best,” Alex chimed in. “So, well, we have pizza. Should we go ahead and call this date number one?”

“We’ve spent the past few days in one another’s bodies making out with each other and seeing each other naked. I think we’re past the first date,” Maggie laughed.

“Hmm, is that your way of suggesting you’re getting lucky tonight?” Lucy flirted.

“You can only hope to be so lucky,” Maggie teased back, sucking her lower lip between her teeth.

Lucy suspected that she and Maggie were going to get along well and that this attempt at whatever it was they were going to do? Well, it might not be so bad.


	4. Body Swap Part 3 - Director Sanvers First Time Smut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of requests for Director Sanvers smut – I included some dating fluff, so the smut wouldn’t feel like it came out of nowhere (there’s a time and a place for that kind of smut, and that time and place is half of the other chapters here tbh)

In the weeks following their conversation, Alex, Maggie, and Lucy spent quite a bit of time together—both as a unit and in pairs—as they got used to the new arrangement. A few beers in the first night, they had broken the awkwardness and odd sense of propriety that still seemed to haunt their arrangement by taking turns making out with each other, falling into a comfortable rhythm as their touches turned increasingly needy and fingers teased under shirts and around waistbands. They had ended it there, figuring it would be appropriate to wait a little longer, but at least they suspected they wouldn’t have any…compatibility issues.

The next morning they had all gone out to brunch at the diner down the block from Alex’s apartment, taking the time to get comfortable with softer forms of intimacy—holding hands, casual touches on backs and arms, soft nudges and whispered compliments.

When Alex got a call that morning at the end of brunch about a rogue alien, she insisted that Lucy should stay and hang out with Maggie, that she’d be back soon enough and they should use the time to get to know one another better. Which is how Lucy and Maggie found themselves standing outside of the diner alone.

“So, uh, did you want to do something?” Maggie offered, uncertain that Lucy really wanted to spend time with her without Alex, especially not yet.

Lucy surprised both of them by grinning and agreeing quickly. “Alright, Maggie, wow me.”

Maggie snorted and rolled her eyes, but she still reached out to grab Lucy’s hand. When Lucy remained still, she pulled gently. “Come on, you want a Maggie Sawyer date, don’t you?”

“Fine, yeah,” Lucy shrugged, allowing herself to be led away from the diner.

As they walked, their phones both dinged with a text from Alex in their new group chat: “Have fun!! Remember, if we’re all dating, it’s not cheating, so no guilt.”

“Who’d have thought that Danvers would be the quickest to adapt?” Maggie laughed.

“Considering the many months where she just nodded along with my attempts at flirting, gonna go ahead and say not me,” Lucy joked back.

“Since we just ate, what about a walk? We’ll pick up coffee and get to know each other a little better?”

“Sounds good. Actually, do you like tea? There’s a really good place a few blocks from here.”

Maggie grinned. “Finally, someone who’ll drink tea with me. I can’t get Alex to trade a single cup of black coffee for a black tea.”

“Ugh, tell me about it. Though it did mean that my fancy teas were never stolen from the break room. My peanut butter M&Ms on the other hand…”

“Yeah, you can’t leave her or Kara alone with chocolate too long if you want to have any left when you get back,” Maggie chuckled. Even if they were focusing on Alex, Maggie was glad that the conversation wasn’t stilted or awkward.

As promised, the tearoom really was just a couple of blocks away, and they arrived within minutes. “Lucy!” the woman at the counter called out, walking around to give her a hug. “It’s been too long.”

“I know! Finally back in the city for a little while,” Lucy explained. “Oh! This is Maggie Sawyer. Maggie, this is Grace Wu. We met at West Point; she was just a year above me. After her tour of duty, she came back to take over the family business.”

“Nice to meet you.” Maggie offered her hand to the woman, who shook it with a firm grasp.

“You too,” Grace replied, smiling as she looked between the two women. “So, Luce, is this business or…” she trailed off, grinning at the blush on Lucy’s cheeks. “I think I have my answer.”

“Yes, well, yes, Maggie is my date.”

“Even better to meet you,” Grace added, winking at Maggie before turning her attention back to Lucy. “I’m glad to see you’re finally moving on after James. And with quite the cutie, I might add.”

“Hush,” Lucy shushed Grace, blushing a faint pink as she dragged Maggie over to one of the tables. Once they had placed their order and gotten a pot of tea to share, Maggie asked Lucy about her time at West Point, figuring it was as good a place as any to start.

Over the course of a couple of hours, the two women talked about growing up and the strained (or broken) relationships they had with their families. They moved on to college, where Maggie talked about finally finding a queer community for the first time, whereas Lucy found herself indoctrinated even further into the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell mentality that her father had so rigorously upheld. They traded horror stories from their days in Gotham and the front lines of battle, respectively, both taking solace in their companionship even as they faced their pasts with dark humor, rather than any more open emotions.

Eventually they left the tearoom after Lucy took a few minutes to schedule a time for her and Grace to catch up in the next couple of weeks. Not quite wanting to end their date, which was going surprisingly well, Maggie suggested that they take a walk. As they strolled through the streets of National City, their conversation turned to lighter topics, and they joked about exes and their favorite queer shows and movies. As someone who typically left her guard up for a significant amount of time, Maggie was shocked at how easy it felt to connect with Lucy, to open up about things that had taken her years to even address herself. Of course, she suspected, having gone though a lot of it with Alex first probably helped. Lucy found herself thinking in similar ways, wondering at Alex’s good taste in women (considering her astoundingly awful taste in men).

Although the sky had grown gray and overcast over the course of their walk, both women were surprised when it began to rain—and not just a drizzle, but a veritable downpour.

“Shit,” Maggie muttered, not having thought to bring an umbrella, since they were only supposed to be going to brunch.

“How fast can you run, Sawyer?” Lucy asked, a teasing grin playing about her mouth.

“Faster than you,” Maggie challenged, taking off at a sprint. “Alex’s place is closer!” she yelled over her shoulder, figuring Lucy would probably feel more comfortable there anyway.

By the time they made it back to Alex’s, they were both out of breath and completely soaked. “You’re faster than I’d have guessed,” Lucy panted, grinning at Maggie, who was nearly doubled-over as she sought to catch her breath. “I mean, not faster than me, but I did win a few awards on West Point’s track team.”

“Cheater,” Maggie managed to get out between labored breaths. She was by no means out of shape, but Lucy had been a formidable opponent, tearing down the streets at a near sprint. As her heart rate finally began to slow, Maggie straightened up, grimacing at the weight and feeling of her sopping wet clothing. She shrugged out of her coat, hanging it up to dry, and quickly took Lucy’s from her as well. Before Maggie could explain that she was going to change in the bathroom, Lucy was already peeling off her wet layers, shrugging by way of explanation: “Not like we haven’t already seen everything. Literally spent days in each other’s bodies.”

This felt different, but Maggie wasn’t going to look like the big prude, so she pulled off her shirt and kicked off her shoes and pants, taking them into the bathroom to dry. When she returned, she brought two fluffy towels and some pajamas, figuring that there was no use in getting dressed up again when it was already late in the afternoon and the torrential rain was showing no signs of stopping.

Her words got stuck in her throat, however, at the sight of Lucy in only underwear tying up her hair. “I, uh, I brought this, um, this towel. For you.”

Lucy smirked, letting her eyes rake up and down Maggie’s almost equally bare body. “Lookin’ good, Sawyer,” she teased.

Blushing faintly, Maggie wrapped the towel around herself, losing her bra only once she was covered. “Pajamas too…I figured maybe we could watch a movie or something while we wait for Alex.”

“That sounds nice,” Lucy admitted. “But, just so you remember, Alex made a point of saying it wouldn’t be cheating if anything happened. And she did tell us to have fun…”

Maggie nodded. She had done this before, been in open relationships, been with other women, but for some reason she was almost…nervous. But she didn’t have to be, she reasoned. Alex had explicitly told them to have fun, and during their group make out session the night before, she had encouraged Maggie and Lucy, whimpering softly at the sight of them together. Just because it was a new part of their relationship didn’t make it wrong or something that Maggie was somehow forcing on Alex. It wasn’t a repeat of Emily; she wasn’t cheating on Alex.

“What if I put on this t-shirt,” Lucy offered, “and then we see what happens?” In a moment, she was a bit more clothed, and Maggie quickly threw on her own shirt as well, feeling much more comfortable, even if her body still ached for something more.

“Movie?” Maggie asked, gesturing to the television.

“Sure. Do you want any snacks?”

“Uh, yeah. I think there’s kettle corn in the cabinets.”

A few minutes later, having sent a text to Alex making sure she was okay and having heard back that she was spending a bit of sister time with Kara after the attack, Maggie felt a bit more relaxed. Lucy returned with the popcorn and perched on the couch, looking suddenly uncertain. Now, having heard once more from Alex that she wanted Lucy and Maggie to get to know each other and really feel a connection, Maggie felt a lot more comfortable. She held her arm out and the blanket up, and Lucy quickly took her up on the offer to cuddle, curling herself into Maggie’s side and pulling the bowl of popcorn up beside them.

Sighing in contentment, Maggie set about trying to find a movie they would both enjoy. They soon learned that they both adored early-twentieth-century films, especially anything with some of the queer ladies of old. After a bit of back-and-forth, they decided on Morocco, given their mutual love of Marlene Dietrich, especially Marlene Dietrich in menswear.

During the movie, Maggie and Lucy let their hands roam with light, gentle touches. Maggie sighed into Lucy’s touch when she ran her fingers through Maggie’s hair, and Lucy let out a low moan when Maggie began gently massaging her upper back. By the time the movie was ending, they were both rather distracted by the other. Leaning forward, Lucy looked up to Maggie, searching for approval. After a moment, Maggie nodded, meeting Lucy and kissing her softly as they got used to one another once more.

As the kiss grew more heated, Maggie and Lucy both grew bolder, letting their hands wander as they had the night before. Maggie moaned at the feeling of Lucy’s abs tensing beneath her touch, and Lucy took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, flicking her tongue across Maggie’s lower lip before being granted entrance.

A little while later, Alex returned, only to find her two…girlfriends? Her girlfriend and the woman they were dating together?...clasped in one another’s arms, tugging at clothing as they gasped into a rather passionate kiss. Swallowing a low whimper at a sight that had ignited something inside of her, Alex chuckled, “I see I shouldn’t have worried too much about the two of you getting along.”

Maggie jolted upright, glancing over the couch at Alex with wide doe eyes. “Alex! Sorry! Is this, are we, um, okay? I know you had said yes, but maybe not now…”

“Maggie, I meant what I said. If we’re going to do this, we should all be comfortable with it. And that means you and I can be together, you and Lucy can be together, Lucy and I can be together, we can all be together—it’s all fine. I’m not jealous.”

“You sure?” Lucy checked, wanting to make sure. If it looked like there were even the slightest amount of hesitation, she would step back. She had never wanted to be the homewrecker to their relationship.

“Trust me,” Alex confirmed. “I mean, if I’m being honest, it’s sort of hot.”

“Yeah?” Maggie’s face lit up, and Lucy ran her tongue across her lips.

“You wanna come join us, Agent Danvers?” Lucy teased.

“Sure I won’t be intruding on your date?”

“Shut up and get your cute butt over here,” Maggie ordered, patting the couch as Alex grinned and hurried over to her girls.

\---

The three found themselves in a similar situation a few weeks later—a few weeks of desperate touches and make out sessions that went on for hours, always verging on more as they pulled each other close, hands trailing below clothing and mouths moving down necks and across collar bones, but also a few weeks of growing trust and intimacy as they dated and learned how they worked as a triad.

Hearing Lucy whimper loudly as her hips bucked up into Maggie’s touch while Alex sucked at her neck, Alex finally drew back. “Can we be done with the waiting?”

Both Maggie and Lucy knew exactly what she was talking about because it was all they had been thinking about for the past week or two as well. Sure, it had seemed like the right thing to do—deciding to put off sex until they were more comfortable with each other—but now it just felt like enforced chastity, even if on a few occasions Maggie and Alex had given in to their lust after Lucy left the apartment for the night.

“Are you sure?” Lucy asked, knowing that she was the unknown quantity, the reason for the waiting.

Alex, having already made her stance quite clear, looked to Maggie, needing to make sure that she was comfortable as well. Having thought about these questions quite a bit over the past few dates, Maggie nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Well, then, maybe we move this to the bed?” Lucy suggested, looking at Alex’s gigantic bed that seemed so obviously made for situations like this one.

On their way to the bedroom, they shed layers, tearing off the last of their clothing as they took in the sight of one another in the dim lighting of the bedroom. Together, Maggie and Alex drew Lucy up and onto the bed, letting her settle between them as a sort of tacit agreement emerged to begin by focusing on Lucy, making sure she felt welcomed into a bed that had been shared for so many months by them alone.

Before Lucy could protest, Maggie whispered, “Let us make you feel good first.” And it wasn’t like Lucy was going to say no to that offer, so she lay back, reveling in the warmth of Maggie’s hands splayed out across her chest, her fingers gently grazing across her nipples as she got used to another body. Soon Alex’s lips were on hers, sucking Lucy’s lower lip between her teeth. She closed her eyes and gave in to the sensation of four hands on her body, working in harmony as they made their way down her torso. She gasped at the feeling of Maggie’s tongue running across her nipple, tracing teasing circles before taking it into her mouth and sucking gently. Maggie groaned into Lucy’s chest when she felt the woman’s hands tangle in her hair, urging her on, harder, more.

As a hand dropped lower, nails dragging up her inner thighs, Lucy felt her hips buck up into the touch, desperate for some kind of friction.

“Can I?” Alex asked, pulling back slightly to let Lucy catch her breath and answer.

“Yes. Please,” Lucy whispered, earning a smile from Maggie, who came back up to kiss her while Alex moved down the bed and between Lucy’s legs.

Letting her fingers dip between Lucy’s folds for the first time, Alex whimpered at how wet she already was. Maggie turned back to find the reason for Alex’s noises, her pupils dilating even further at the sight of Alex sucking Lucy’s arousal off of her fingers. Noting Maggie’s reaction, Alex dipped her fingers back down, circling them around Lucy’s clit before gathering more of her wetness and offering it to Maggie to taste. Lucy swore she almost came at the scene playing out in front of her. In fact, she was so distracted that it came as a great surprise when she felt Alex’s fingers back on her pussy, circling around her entrance.

“Can I?” Alex asked again, earning a nod from Lucy before Lucy’s attention was pulled back to Maggie, whose mouth had returned to her breasts and abs once more.

Lucy let her head drop to the pillow and her eyes flutter shut when Alex easily sunk two fingers inside of her, gently pumping them in and out, letting her get used to the fullness before she began fucking her in earnest. Lucy soon gave up on trying to maintain some semblance of propriety during their first time, letting loose a series of loud moans and a string of obscenities with every thrust and twist of Alex’s long fingers.

Lucy was pulled back to the moment by the feeling of Maggie biting down on her shoulder as she let out a low whimper that drew both Maggie and Lucy’s attention to her. She gasped in time with Alex at the sight of Maggie’s fingers restlessly seeking out her own clit, rubbing tight, fast circles around it as she tried not to come undone before Lucy. Sensing what Maggie was waiting for, Alex picked up her pace, curling her fingers upward and dropping her thumb to Lucy’s clit as the smaller woman writhed under her touch, begging her not to stop.

Maggie watched with rapt attention as Lucy tensed, her back arching off the bed, before collapsing back onto it with a loud gasp, her body shaking as Alex guided her through her orgasm. As soon as she felt it was safe to come without fear of pulling Lucy’s attention away from her own orgasm, Maggie let herself fall over the edge, her hips bucking into the air as her head fell forward and onto Lucy’s chest.

After a few minutes, as both Maggie and Lucy sought to regain their breath, Lucy focused on Alex. “Your turn,” she purred, licking her lips as she glanced at Maggie.

A very eager Alex let herself be led up to the pillows as Lucy took her place between her legs after confirming with Maggie that it was alright. Maggie kissed Alex hard and deep as Lucy traced teasing touches up and down Alex’s thighs and nipped at Alex’s abs.

“Can I?” Alex heard Lucy’s voice asking, and she pulled back from Maggie to confirm that yes, definitely, absolutely, that was very much what she wanted.

Seeing Lucy hesitate for a moment, Maggie moved down the bed, wrapping her arms around Lucy from behind her as she kissed up the other woman’s neck. Lucy dropped her gaze down to Alex’s waiting pussy, whimpering at the sight of the arousal that had already spilled out of her and down her thighs. Needing to taste her, Lucy bent over, lowering her mouth to Alex’s thighs and quickly making her way to their apex.

“Start with long, slow licks up the length of her,” Maggie instructed, making both Lucy and Alex moan loudly at the idea of Maggie teaching Lucy how best to pleasure her girlfriend—their girlfriend. Maggie could tell exactly when Lucy began, watching as Alex’s eyes fluttered shut and a small sigh left her lips. After a few minutes of slow, gentle teasing, she leaned back over, running her hands up and down Lucy’s back as she whispered, “Now dip your tongue inside of her and drag it up and around her clit.” The motion made Alex fist her hands in the blanket as she tried to keep her hips from bucking too hard into Lucy’s mouth. At this point, Lucy let instinct take over for the most part, listening to Alex’s body as she alternated between flicking her tongue around Alex’s clit and dipping it inside her—the two actions drawing two different but equally arousing sounds from the woman.

When Maggie could see Alex’s desperation growing, she took Alex’s hand in her own and leaned down to Lucy once more. “Now she likes it when you suck her clit. And if you fuck her with a finger or two at the same time, she’ll come even harder.”

Alex nearly came at Maggie’s words, dragging her up to her mouth by the hand she still had clasped in her own. “You’re so fucking hot,” she growled, pulling Maggie in to a searing kiss just as Lucy took her clit between her lips and let a finger slip inside her. Before she could quite process what was happening, Alex felt herself falling over the edge, her vision flashing white, before two sets of hands and two mouths carefully brought her down from her high.

“That was incredibly sexy, but it was over way too fast,” Lucy whined, shooting a teasing pout up at Alex.

Still trying to catch her breath, Alex shrugged. “Stay down there, then,” which Lucy was only too happy to obey. “And you,” Alex added, grabbing Maggie. “Would you sit on my face?”

Lucy’s eyes shot back up to the scene in front of her as Maggie grinned and whimpered and nodded as she very carefully straddled Alex’s face, slowly lowering herself until Alex got impatient, grabbing her hips and drawing her down, muttering about how she wasn’t particularly fragile. Lucy shook her head, glad to see that Alex could be pretty much exactly the same in bed as she was out in the field.

Once Alex and Maggie seemed to have gotten comfortable, Lucy dropped her mouth and finger back down to Alex’s pussy, grinning at the noises Alex let out when she made contact.

“Still okay?” Maggie whispered, getting a fervent nod back from both Alex and Lucy and finally letting herself relax into Alex’s touches. Having already worked herself up watching Lucy and Alex come, Maggie was close, holding on just to prolong the experience. But when Alex swirled her tongue around her clit and let her nails dig into Maggie’s ass, Maggie couldn’t help it as she gave herself over to the pleasure, coming hard, rocking into Alex’s mouth as her hands hit the wall to keep herself steady.

Once Alex had worked her through all of the aftershocks, Maggie carefully swung her leg back over Alex’s head and pulled Lucy up into a heated kiss, tasting Alex on her tongue, as Lucy continued to fuck Alex hard, her two fingers scissoring inside the redhead and curling up against her front wall. Between the sight of Lucy and Maggie kissing each other hard and desperate and the fingers working expertly inside her, Alex soon felt herself coming for the second time that night, and Lucy and Maggie moved in tandem to work her down from it, kissing her and holding her tightly.

After what felt like hours of exploring one another’s bodies, eventually all three women collapsed, sweaty and naked and spent.

“That was…” Alex began, trying to find words.

“Amazing,” Maggie completed.

“So, so good,” Lucy agreed.

“Yeah…yeah, that,” Alex managed to get out.

By the time they woke up the next morning, Alex was in the middle of the bed with Lucy and Maggie curled into either side of her, and she had to admit, it just felt right.


	5. Maggie's Bonsais

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 47\. “No one needs to know.” - Director Sanvers   
> So this was supposed to be a drabble for a Tumblr prompt fill that got way out of hand, but I loved it so much I couldn't stop writing!

Alex and Lucy swore up and down that they’d be just fine while Maggie went away for a couple of weeks. After all, Lucy knew how to cook, and Alex was a pro at finding the best takeout deals, so they wouldn’t starve. They were both highly trained and decorated soldiers, so they would certainly be able to protect themselves. And they were both clean enough that the apartment wouldn’t deteriorate while she was gone.

For the most part, they were fine. They missed Maggie like crazy, but they called her every night and sent her incredibly dirty pictures once she let them know she was back in her hotel room. They even managed to send out a postcard or two after they got the first two from Maggie and realized they might be slacking a bit in their girlfriend duties.

But neither of them realized just how fickle Maggie’s bonsai trees were. They had never been happier to remember that M’gann had taken in her two favorite ones—the ones she’d had since her very first assignment in Gotham—though they did wonder if that choice had been intentional.

“Alex!” Lucy hissed, pulling Alex’s attention away from the medical journal she’d been reading.

“What?” Alex whined.

“I need your help!”

“Get your own damn beer,” Alex huffed, settling back down into the couch.

“Not that. Come look at Maggie’s tree.” Lucy chewed on her lower lip as she took in the sight of the half-dead bonsai tree.

“Fuck,” Alex muttered, noticing how distinctly unhealthy it looked. “Um, we’ve been watering it, right?”

“Yeah? I mean, I think so…don’t trees just grow naturally and shit?”

“I think the little guys need some extra help.”

“Is that a short joke? It’s not fair when Maggie isn’t here to help me defend our honor.”

“No…well, not intentionally,” Alex chuckled. “Okay, so do we just…water it a little extra?”

“Maybe? Yeah, I guess.”

So they gave it quite a bit of water and went to bed feeling okay about their actions, though they were noticeably reticent during their evening call with Maggie.

The next morning, however, the tree looked even worse. “Luce…” Alex called out.

“What?” Lucy asked from the kitchen where she was preparing eggs for the two of them.

“Um…the tree looks like shit. I think we fucked it up even more.”

“How is that possible? Isn’t water always good?” Lucy ranted, plating their eggs and hurrying over to inspect the damage. “Okay…maybe we can google some answers.”

Which is how the two girlfriends found themselves deep in the online world of bonsai blogs that morning, clicking through links about caring for them that were more often than not full of personal anecdotes and words of wisdom that had Lucy and Alex giggling and snorting into their coffee.

“Ooh! This blog sounds more our style!” Alex called out, motioning for Lucy to look at her laptop screen. “It’s called, ‘Badass Bonsais.’”

“What sort of loser dude-bro names his blog that?” Lucy laughed.

“Nope. Look in the bio, this one is run by a woman!”

“Huh, okay…I guess we can look through it.” So they began scrolling and reading the surprisingly witty and insightful posts. “She’s sort of cool,” Lucy eventually conceded. “I think she might bat for our team too.”

“You think everyone bats for our team,” Alex scoffed.

“Uh, they all would if they met us.”

“We are attractive…”

Before they could get too distracted, Alex turned her attention back to the blog, clicking through a few more articles that seemed directly relevant to questions of how to care for the trees. “Wait a second…is that our living room?”

“Huh?” Lucy asked, looking up from her phone where she’d gotten distracted by a Buzzfeed article Kara sent to their group text. “Oh, hey! That looks like Maggie’s tree.”

“Dude…I think that is Maggie’s tree. Think about it: this blogger is a woman, probably a gay woman. We both find her oddly charming and her bonsai puns delightfully endearing, rather than weird. And that is 100% our furniture in the background of these photos.” After a long enough pause for it to be dramatic, Alex declared: “Maggie runs the Badass Bonsais blog!”

After a moment, Lucy burst out laughing. “Oh my god! We have to tease her about this forever!”

After they enjoyed a good laugh, Alex seemed to sober. “Shit…if she runs a blog, she definitely cares about these stupid little trees a lot. Which means we have royally fucked up.”

“Okay, but no one needs to know,” Lucy corrected, looking sternly at Alex. “We still have a few days; we’ll fix it by then.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, trust me.”

Hours later, they found themselves writing desperate please in online bonsai tree care forums under the username, “Badass Bonsai Babes.”

“We should make up a backstory in case Maggie reads these forums,” Lucy suggested.

“Ooh, good thinking! Um…here, how about this? ‘Hey! My best gal pal and I are looking after our friend’s bonsai. Our friend is a great guy, who is also an accountant. We might have messed up his tree a little. Please advise.’”

“How did you possibly make it through a lie detector test?” Lucy laughed, staring incredulously at Alex.

“Because I’m an amazing liar.”

“That sounds absurd!”

“No…I offer just a bit too much personal information just like all the other weirdos on these forums! Therefore, I blend in perfectly. Boom.”

Shrugging, Lucy conceded, “Alright, maybe…add a typo. Maggie would never believe you’d let an imperfect draft go live.”

“Good thinking!” Alex quickly switched advise to advice, then abbreviated please to plz before finally hitting post. They watched with bated breath as the replies began to come in.

“What kind of bonsai does your friend have?” is how almost all of them started.

They both shrugged. “Um…it sort of looks like the sad tree in Charlie Brown’s Christmas episode?” Lucy wrote back.

Ignoring the somewhat condescending responses, they were at least able to get at the fact that they were likely working with a Juniper, which had rather important watering instructions that they definitely hadn’t followed. After sending pictures of the browning needles that had begun falling off of the branches, they were advised to simply get a new tree, which brought them to a quirky bonsai shop downtown that Monday morning—just one day before Maggie was due home.

“What the fuck?” Lucy hissed. “How are they so expensive?”

Alex just shrugged, feeling rather awkward lugging around the bonsai they’d killed, which looked even worse now, almost entirely bereft of needles. The shopkeeper had looked judgmentally at her, eyeing the dead Juniper suspiciously and asking Alex to stand farther away from her bonsais.

Finally Alex went directly up to the counter. “Look, I need a tree that looks exactly like this one with a matching pot. Do you have something?”

The woman explained that she could carefully repot the tree for them, since she didn’t trust them to do it (and, she explained, it shouldn’t be done frequently, but she would do them a favor). She helped them look through the Junipers and find one that looked at least similar to the one they’d killed—or, the way it looked before they’d killed it.

One expensive purchase and a lengthy repotting process later, Alex and Lucy were ready. They set the tree up exactly where Maggie’s old one had been and prayed she wouldn’t notice.

\---

Maggie said nothing when she got home. It helped that she was distracted by the sight of her two girlfriends waiting for her in lingerie, matching grins on their faces, ready to apologize for a plant crime she didn’t know they’d committed.

They were pretty sure they had gotten away with it when they didn’t hear a word from Maggie for a full week. But then Lucy got an email from Alex with the subject line “*facepalm*” that contained a link to the Badass Bonsais blog.

She pulled it up, finding a new post with a picture of their newest acquisition. It began: “Well, you were right. Turns out my favorite Badass Bonsai Babes (hey, guys, by the way!) weren’t quite up to the pressure of caring for my little guys just right. Thanks to all for the suggestions about leaving my favorites with a friend. But, these two were sweet enough to try to replace my lovely Juniper with this new one—as if any gardener worth their salt wouldn’t notice!—so there will still be tales and lessons learned with this one. To be continued!”


	6. Tumblr Quote Prompt Drabbles

   
**19: “The paint’s supposed to go where?” – Director Sanvers**

After a long two months of trying to live with three people crammed into Alex’s open floor plan studio, Alex, Maggie, and Lucy decided they desperately needed a new apartment. Having one closet back when it was just Alex and Maggie was bad enough. Adding a third woman who was proud of her extensive wardrobe just didn’t work. And while only one bathroom might make for some fun excuses to never shower alone, it didn’t quite go over so well for just about any other task. Maggie had broken up one too many arm wrestling matches between Alex and Lucy over who got access to the good outlets to still find it endearing.

Which is how they found themselves visiting building after building in downtown National City, looking for a place midway between the city branch of the DEO, where Lucy had luckily been able to transfer, and Maggie’s NCPD precinct. Each one of them had different things they counted as “necessary” for a new place.

Maggie wanted somewhere rent controlled and dog friendly with easy access to a park or lots of green space; though she wasn’t one to admit it freely, she wanted to think about this as their home, a place to start their future as a family.

Lucy wanted something a bit less spartan than her old army barracks or the sparse studio she’d technically been paying rent on during the past two months of living with Alex and Maggie. Even though she knew a lot could be accomplished with the right interior decorating and a good coat of paint, she didn’t want another boxy layout that felt like it was pulled from a college dorm catalog.

And Alex, well, Alex wanted a bedroom that was big enough to accommodate her California king bed and several large dressers and that came with a door–maybe even a lead-lined door. Of course, having a balcony with large bay windows was a given, but she didn’t need Kara to fly directly into her bedroom on a weekly basis in the new place too. Her girlfriends could laugh it off–well, Lucy thought it was hilarious and Maggie had simply learned to laugh at it rather than wanting to die of embarrassment–but Kara was always going to be Alex’s sister, and there were certain things siblings never needed to witness…again.

—

Three very long weekends of apartment hunting later and three alien-assisted U-Haul trips later, the three women found themselves happily set up in a new two-bedroom apartment that was spacious enough for all of their belongings, rent-controlled due to the building’s age, which also meant the decorating was ornate enough for Lucy’s taste, close to a park, and full of large windows and doors.

As Maggie took charge of directing where the boxes should go, Lucy yelled out for her to wait before having anyone unpack their boxes. Not only did they definitely not need their friends seeing the contents of some of their boxes marked, “personal,” but she also wanted to paint before they started getting their belongings out, at which point it would be too easy to put it off for god knows how long.

So Lucy dismissed their helpers after feeding them beer and greasy pizza from Kara’s favorite place, then pulled out large bags from the hardware store she’d already brought over. “Alex, you go around with the blue painter’s tape to protect the baseboards. Maggie, you put down the tarps and get the trays and rollers ready. I’ll get the paint cans in the right rooms,” Lucy ordered.

“Who died and made you dictator?” Maggie laughed, even though she honestly didn’t mind Lucy’s bossy side…at least in certain aspects of their lives.

“I’ve spent too many years as an army brat to want to spend another moment in an apartment that doesn’t feel like home,” Lucy grumbled.

“I get it, Luce,” Alex offered, throwing an arm around the woman and holding her close as she kissed the top of her head. “We’ll get right to work, promise!”

And they did. At least, for a while. But then Lucy made the mistake of leaving her two girlfriends alone to paint the spare bedroom/home office and came back only to find them painting silly messages to each other on the white walls. “Is this what I told you to paint?” Lucy huffed.

“Hmm…I can’t recall,” Maggie teased.

“Ya know what, Mags, I think she told us to paint up and down only. Very straight lines.”

“I painted lines as straight as I am,” Maggie proudly declared, grinning at the hearts and squiggly lines adorning her half of the wall. “But we can try again. You know how much Alex likes to be good for you…”

“Shut up,” Alex mumbled, her cheeks flushing a bright red.

“Here I’ll try,” Maggie added, dipping the small brush for getting along the baseboards into the paint and dragging a thin line down Lucy’s thighs.

“Excuse me!” Lucy squealed, not all that mad since she was wearing shitty painting clothes anyway.

“Oh…the paint was supposed to go where again, babe?” Maggie asked cheekily.

“I’ll defend your honor!” Alex yelled, dipping her finger into the paint and drawing a sloppy heart on Maggie’s cheek.

“My hero,” Lucy praised, dazing Alex long enough that Maggie was able to flick blue across the tip of her nose.

—

One hour of paint fighting over the tarp, six hours of real painting, and one very long shower in their delightfully large master bath later, and Lucy was pleased enough with their progress to let them go to bed for the night.

“Shall we christen the new bed?” Maggie asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“It’s actually still the old bed,” Alex corrected.

“But it’s in a new apartment, buzzkill,” Lucy added, sticking her tongue out at the redhead. “Plus, since when do you object to your girlfriends having their way with you?”

“Shutting up now!”

“Good girl.”

   
~~~~~~

 

**17\. “Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…” – Director Sanvers**

The emergency lockdown bells blared through the DEO, and Alex was quick to follow protocol, locking the door to her lab and shutting all of the blackout blinds. Sure, Supergirl had already called to explain that it was an escaped prisoner contained in the other wing of the building, but she wasn’t about to be docked for not following procedures; she’d had enough paperwork to last her a lifetime after the last time she pulled a stunt like that.

“Away from the windows!” Alex ordered, finding Maggie and Lucy both staring at her. “What?” she asked, suddenly feeling rather self-conscious.

“It’s just, uh, you’re not normally so…authoritative,” Maggie noted, always one to start tactfully and work her way up to it.

Lucy, feeling no need to start subtly, explained: “Normally with the two of us, you’re pretty much the biggest bottom to ever bottom. Not used to taking orders from you…Agent.”

Alex felt her face flush as heat pooled low in her abdomen. “Yeah, well, you’re in my office, so you’ll do as I say.”

Maggie grinned, looking almost as predatory as Lucy did. “Is that so? I mean, it looks like we’ll be trapped here for a while…”

“Yeah…maybe Agent Danvers should help us learn what we can and can’t do in her lab,” Lucy purred, stalking over to Alex and placing her hand on Alex’s chest as she looked up into her eyes.

“Is that, uh, something you want too, Mags?” Alex asked, not wanting to assume that Maggie was fine with something just because Lucy was.

“Mm, I think it could be a fun change of pace,” Maggie grinned, moving to stand behind Alex as she let her hands caress the agent’s hips and ass. “So what is it that we need to do?”

Feeling almost overwhelmed by the possibilities, Alex looked to Lucy, getting a confident nod in return, along with an almost chaste kiss on the cheek. “You’re good,” she murmured, low enough not to break the scene but loud enough for Alex to hear.

Thinking back to the types of things she enjoyed, coupled with what her girls liked, Alex nodded. “On your knees, Luce,” she barked, letting herself embody her DEO persona and once more becoming the commanding presence she was for her fellow agents.

Flicking her tongue across her teeth lasciviously, Lucy dropped to the ground, her hands hovering over Alex’s belt. “Can I?” she asked, letting Alex have the moment.

“Yes,” Alex hissed. While Lucy worked on undoing her undoing her belt and getting her pants down, Alex focused her attention on Maggie. “I want your hands on my chest and your mouth on my neck,” she ordered.

“Yes, Agent,” Maggie nodded, letting her fingers skim across Alex’s defined abs as her lips found the woman’s pulse point and sucked lightly at first, drawing low groans from her.

As Alex’s hips began bucking forward under Maggie’s careful attention, Lucy finally pushed down Alex’s tight boxer briefs and let her mouth hover over Alex’s center. “Can I?” she asked again.

“Please,” Alex whimpered, not caring that tops maybe weren’t supposed to beg or plead—at least not this easily. She was already too far gone to care. And then Lucy’s mouth was on her clit, her tongue flicking between her folds, and Alex couldn’t think of anything other than the sensation any more.

As Maggie’s fingers found their way under Alex’s bra, tugging her nipples into stiff peaks as she dragged her teeth along Alex’s neck, Alex gasped and threw her head back, her knees nearly buckling. But Lucy was there to hold her up with strong arms, her face buried between Alex’s legs as she moaned at just how wet Alex was for them. She could feel arousal dripping down her chin and wanted nothing more than to get Alex back to their place where they could properly fuck her without having to worry about the drill ending or questions of how sanitary (or not) the floor might be.

When the alarms finally stopped ringing—the new silence almost more disconcerting than the alarms had gotten to be—Lucy pulled her head back. “I need you to come for us. Can you do that, Agent? Can we make you come?” she rephrased.

“Yes, please, yes,” Alex panted, her hips canting forward, searching out Lucy’s touch once more. With Lucy’s lips wrapped around her clit and Maggie’s hands on her chest, Alex came with a cry far too loud for the quiet hallways of the DEO. Maggie quickly ducked her head around to capture Alex’s lips in a heated kiss as Lucy carefully licked Alex through the end of her orgasm, holding her steady as her whole body shuddered with the intensity of it.

“How ya doing?” Maggie asked, pulling back only when she was sure Alex would be quiet.

“Good,” Alex nodded, still slightly breathless.

“Yeah?” Lucy checked.

“Definitely. So good.”

 

~~~~~~

   
**35\. “You heard me. Take. It. Off.” - Director Sanvers feat. Bottom!Alex**

Panting, Alex arched up into Maggie’s torturously slow touches. “Please,” she whined.

“Not until Lucy decides you’re ready,” Maggie grinned, peeking at Lucy out of the corner of her eyes as her fingers drifted up and down Alex’s bare inner thighs.

Lucy looked on as Maggie built Alex up again and again, leaving her whimpering and writhing against the restraints each time Maggie’s mouth and fingers skirted around her panties, leaving her soaked and desperate and wanting.

“Please,” Alex called out, this time looking directly at Lucy. “I can’t wait any longer.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Lucy asked, needing to know. One meant Alex needed the teasing to end; the other meant she was still in on the game.

“I don’t know,” Alex admitted. “Probably just won’t.”

“Take off her panties,” Lucy ordered Maggie, earning a predatory smile from Maggie as she carefully inched the now rather wet garment down Alex’s legs.

“Do you think you’ve earned my tongue?” Maggie rasped. “Or did you want something else tonight?”

Lucy shook her head. “You two don’t get to decide tonight. Don’t you remember the rules we set?” Maggie huffed, and Alex just looked amused at Maggie’s frustration. “You’ll do as I say unless you yell out one of the safewords, okay?” Lucy checked in.

“Got it,” Alex nodded.

“Understood,” Maggie confirmed.

“Good,” Lucy grinned. “Now, Maggie, take off the harness.”

“What?” Maggie asked, looking confused.

“You heard me. Take. It. Off.”

Even though she looked slightly confused and perhaps a bit disappointed, Maggie did as she was told, undoing the straps and letting it fall to the ground before getting back onto the bed with Alex.

“Now unlock Alex’s handcuffs,” Lucy ordered, tossing Maggie the key.

“Really?” Alex asked, looking equally confused as Maggie.

Lucy simply nodded, keeping her full plan to herself. She nodded in approval as Maggie undid the cuffs, freeing Alex from the bedframe. “Now cuff your left hand to Alex’s right hand.”

Maggie quickly complied, wondering if this was going where she though it might be going.

“Now you can start fucking her with your hand,” Lucy explained, sucking her lower lip between her teeth as Alex let out a low groan when Maggie easily slipped two fingers inside of her.

Keeping Alex’s hands above her head with her cuffed hand, Maggie fucked Alex hard with her right, feeling herself getting worked up both by the way Alex’s walls were already clenching and fluttering around her fingers and by her own limited mobility, which had her riding Alex’s hip bone as she desperately sought some relief.

Once it looked like both of her girls were close, Lucy ordered: “Stop.”

Maggie nearly cried out, and Alex whimpered loudly, both of them having been on the brink of coming hard together. “Why?” Maggie managed.

“You don’t get to come unless I give it to you,” Lucy purred. Carefully, she stepped into the discarded harness, fastening it around her waist and rubbing lube up and down the toy. “Maggie, I want you to ride Alex’s face while I fuck her. Are you both okay with that?”

“Yes,” Alex sighed, her pupils blown wide as she waited to taste the arousal that Maggie had been spreading all up and down her thighs and hips.

Nodding, Maggie carefully maneuvered herself to straddle Alex’s face, watching out for their joined hands, which she left linked above Alex’s head. “Tell me if you can’t breathe, okay?” Maggie told Alex, getting a murmur of understanding in response.

Once Alex had gotten into a rhythm that had Maggie crying out for more, Lucy slipped inside of Alex, feeling the woman’s movements falter as she moaned loudly. She watched as Alex’s free hand dragged down Maggie’s back, leaving angry-looking red streaks in its wake that had Maggie hissing in pleasure. The harder she fucked Alex, the more Alex seemed to give to Maggie, pushing them both toward the edge at a startling pace.

Of course, Alex knew better than to come before Lucy told her she was allowed to (at least when they were playing this game), and Maggie was quickly adopting to the rules. When it seemed like Alex truly couldn’t wait any longer, Alex’s hips faltering against her own and her breathing coming in short bursts, Lucy dug her nails into Alex’s hips, catching her attention, as she ordered into the near silence, “Come for me, Alex.”

And then Alex was coming hard, her jaw dropping into a silent scream before she remembered her earlier actions and quickly resumed her earlier task, sucking Maggie’s clit between her lips and sucking hard enough to get her to finally beg Lucy, “Luce, please. Please, I need to come.”

“Then come for me, Mags.” And Maggie did, her free hand falling to Alex’s hair as she rode out the aftershocks of her orgasm on Alex’s tongue, feeling waves of pleasure crashing over her with every noise Alex moaned into her pussy and every touch Lucy so lovingly bestowed upon her as her back arched into Alex’s attention.

Once they had both come down, Maggie rounded on Lucy just as Alex pulled herself up to her knees, eyeing Lucy hungrily.

“You know what’s next, right?” Maggie asked.

“Maybe,” Lucy taunted.

Gesturing at the harness—the last of Lucy’s clothes, Maggie grinned. “Take. It. Off.”

 

~~~~~

   


**36\. “I wish I could hate you.” – Director Sanvers**

 

“What is this nonsense?” Lucy’s voice carried through the apartment, causing both Maggie and Alex to look up from their breakfast.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Alex asked, already moving to pour a mug of coffee for Lucy, figuring a lack of caffeine was probably a large part of the issue. Maggie bit down on the inside of her cheek, stifling a laugh.

“I got kicked out of my gym 15 minutes before I hit 24 hours defending,” Lucy pouted, her hair sticking up at odd angles as she glared at her phone.

“Are you seriously this upset about that dumb Pokémon game you and Winn keep playing around the DEO?” Alex scoffed, pulling back the proffered coffee. When Lucy glared, she added: “Only adults get coffee, not kids playing games on their phones.”

“This is serious business, Alex,” Lucy grumbled. “Do you remember how many kilometers I ran to get all of my candy for this Dragonite?”

“I vaguely remember you asking me to drive at 5-10mph on my motorcycle,” Alex teased.

“Okay, look, I did most of them myself.”

“Maybe someone just wanted to prove to you that you aren’t, what’s your username again, Number1Lane, right?”

“Oh! I should see who kicked me out! Do you think it’s that creepy middle-aged man that always looks at us funny in the elevator?” Lucy mused, pulling back up the gym to look at the person who’d had the audacity to dethrone her and replace her high-powered Dragonite with a damn Pikachu wearing Ash’s hat.

Burying her face in her bagel, Maggie tried not to giggle when Lucy made a high-pitched noise of indignation. “Their username is BttrThnLane! How dare they? This is basically in-game harassment.” At that, Maggie couldn’t hold back her laugh any longer and ended up choking on her bagel, coughing and spluttering for a good minute while Alex looked suspiciously at her.

“Where’d you go on your run this morning, Mags?” Alex asked, her voice too sweet not to raise suspicions.

“Uh, ya know, the usual route down to the waterfront.”

“You’re not as sweaty as you normally are,” Alex pointed out.

“Oh, just getting more and more in shape,” Maggie grinned, flexing her arms to demonstrate.

“I will not be distracted!” Lucy railed. “You!” she accused, pointing at Maggie. “This is why you were suddenly all buddy-buddy with Winn, wasn’t it?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Maggie hummed, looking the picture of innocence as she demurely crossed her legs and took a small sip of coffee.

“Maggie,” Alex said, her voice quiet but serious. “Did you kick Lucy out of her gym?”

“You sound like a mom, and not in the hot mommi way that Autostraddle is really trying to make happen,” Maggie retorted.

“That’s not a no.”

“Maybe…” Maggie taunted, winking at Lucy. “But only ’cause she got so damn cocky about it.”

“I hate you,” Lucy grumbled, tossing her phone down against the couch.

“No you don’t,” Maggie laughed. “I’m too cute.”

“Fine, then, I wish I could hate you,” Lucy rephrased, sticking her tongue out at Maggie.

“No you don’t!” Maggie teased again.

“Yes I do!” Lucy retorted.

“It’s too early for this shit!” Alex finally snapped, rubbing at her temples. “I am—thank God—not either of your mothers, and I so don’t want to have to act like it this early in the day. So, let me phrase it this way: if you want me to think of you as adults that I would one day like to have sex with again, act like it!”

“Okay…sorry,” both Maggie and Lucy mumbled, looking contrite. But then Lucy’s face brightened: “Wait! What if you played with us? Since Maggie has Winn on her team, what if you got to be on my team? Then we both get a genius.”

Even as she rolled her eyes, Alex was already shrugging and nodding. “Alright, I guess,” she finally conceded.

Within minutes, Lucy and Maggie were giggling over Alex’s phone as they created an account and an avatar for her. Finally, they held the phone back out to her, both of them stifling laughs as Alex narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them before dropping her gaze to look at her profile. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Why is my username AgentPraiseKink?”


	7. College AU Library Smut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BearsInCastles: Request: College setting: studying in the library turns into sexual tension turns into covert making out (or more?!) and there's a real struggle to keep quiet. Sanvers, Director Sanvers, or Supercorp up to you! - Here's the Director Sanvers edition!

“Come play with us,” Lucy whined, covering the page of Alex’s textbook with her hand.

“You know I’m studying,” Alex explained, gently nudging Lucy’s hand off of the page.

“You’re studying for the MCATS. A whole year in advance. Even you have to admit that’s a bit excessive,” Maggie teased. “Plus, it’s the first full week of the summer. You are the only damn undergrad left in the library.”

“The grad students and the med students are still here,” Alex countered.

“Yeah, and when you’re one of them, we’ll leave you alone,” Lucy added, trying again to push the book away from Alex. “C’mon, I just got back from my visit with Lois. You know I need some stress relief after that,” she pouted.

“Kara says she’s really not so bad,” Alex grumbled.

“Kara isn’t Lois’s little sister,” Lucy retorted. “Point is, I could really use some fun in my life, and somehow watching your cute little brain work is much less fun than watching your cute little butt. Or playing with your—”

“Not now,” Alex hissed, cutting off Lucy’s words before she could say something that would leave her thoroughly distracted. “Look, let me finish this chapter, then we can do something, okay?”

“Fine,” Lucy conceded. “But Maggie and I are gonna go have some fun of our own. You come find us when you’re done.”

Alex looked almost hurt before nodding in resignation. It wasn’t like her girlfriends should have to wait around in silence on the first week of vacation that they were all back together while she studied.

With a grin, Maggie grabbed Lucy’s hand and dragged her out of their chairs and toward the stairs. “Where to?” she whispered, glad to be leaving the quiet floor where Alex chose to study.

Once they were in the stairwell, Lucy’s hands were around Maggie’s waist, pushing her up against the exposed brick wall as she nipped at Maggie’s neck. “I’ve missed you,” Lucy murmured.

“We missed you too,” Maggie replied, moaning softly as Lucy’s lips finally found hers. Maggie felt like she lost track of time, but eventually she managed to pull back, her eyes dark and her lips kiss-swollen. “Should we at least move this to the back stairwell? Wouldn’t want to be interrupted when I’m finally getting to touch you again after a whole week away.”

“You make a compelling argument,” Lucy got out between kisses to Maggie’s lips, her hands roaming across Maggie’s upper body. “I suppose you can lead the way,” she gave in, swatting at Maggie’s ass as soon as it was in front of her.

Maggie quickly dragged Lucy up to the fourth floor. “Why here?” Lucy asked, looking around in confusion. Sure, there weren’t a ton of people around, but it seemed…random.

“I’ve got a nice clue for Danvers, a way to let her know how to find us. Plus, it’ll be in the form of a puzzle, so you know it’ll get to her, and she’ll have to solve it.”

“I like the way you think,” Lucy grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as Maggie took her hand and dragged her toward the back.

Once they had made their way through a row of books, Maggie shepherded Lucy into one of the cubicles in the back that stood abandoned now that finals had ended. She scooped Lucy up and deposited her on the desk, then held up a finger, getting out her phone to text Alex. She pulled Lucy in for a heated kiss, snapping a slightly off-focus and off-center photo of the two of them and captioning it: “Come find us where the lesbians are, then take a left.”

Lucy looked like she wanted to ask, but soon found she didn’t care all that much once Maggie’s lips were attached to hers again, nipping and sucking at her lower lip as her hands dropped lower and lower, her nails raking up the exposed skin of Lucy’s thighs, pushing at the already high hem of her jean shorts.

\---

Downstairs, Alex finally closed her book with a loud sigh. Her eyes were exhausted, and all she wanted was to go home and curl up with her girlfriends. Or maybe lie outside in the sun…get out of the stuffy basement for a while. Picking up her phone, Alex gasped when she caught sight of the photo Maggie had sent. She quickly opened her texts and found the ambiguous clue that accompanied the picture.

“Where are you??” Alex sent, growing increasingly frustrated when she received no reply. She read back over the text…”Find us where the lesbians are, then take a left.” A look of comprehension suddenly dawned on her as she raced up to the second floor to where the queer women’s group met for their biweekly discussion hours at the library’s coffee shop. Only, when she turned left outside of the coffee shop, she just found a couple of med students quizzing each other. She did a few laps around the floor, hoping she hadn’t just missed them, but there were no texts waiting for her.

Alex tried to think through any conversations she’d had with Maggie or Lucy about lesbians in the library…but she came up blank. Eventually she made her way to the elevators, figuring she’d head to the top floor and work her way down. But when she got in the elevator, Alex noticed the library classification guide and the list of which letters were on which floor. Pulling out her phone, she looked up how the sexuality studies books were classified. HQ, which, based on this guide was housed on the…fourth floor!

She waited impatiently as the ancient elevator creaked to life and carried her up the two flights. As soon as the doors were open, Alex was out like a shot, ignoring the odd looks she got from the two graduate students sitting in the front section as she made a beeline for the HQ aisles. When she reached the end, she nearly let out a huff of disappointment at the lack of anyone there until she remembered the second half of her instructions: turn left.

She turned and walked quickly ahead and into the back corner of cubicles and study carrels. It was almost eerie how empty it was back here, when just two weeks ago students were ready to fight each other over the rare sight of an empty one. While it was quiet, it wasn’t quite quiet enough to be empty. She quickly picked up on the sounds of soft sights and moans and even a shushed giggle.

With a smirk on her face, Alex made her way to the desk where all the noise was coming from and popped her head around the wall, finding Lucy perched on the desk, her legs wrapped around Maggie’s waist and her face buried in the crook of Maggie’s neck as Maggie’s hands roamed across her chest.

“You know, your text said to join, but it looks like you’re doing just fine on your own…” Alex teased, laughing softly when both women’s heads snapped up to find the source of the noise.

“Yeah, but we’re doing so much better now that you’re here,” Maggie flirted back once she had recovered from the initial shock.

“I’ve missed the future Dr. Danvers,” Lucy added, reaching out and dragging Alex toward them as she planted a kiss on Alex’s lips. “Missed you a lot,” she repeated, deepening the kiss.

“If you’re done studying, maybe we take this back to my apartment,” Maggie offered, feeling herself growing increasingly turned on at the sight of her girlfriends making out in front of her.

“You don’t want to see how quiet Danvers can be when we teach her what else can be done in the library?” Lucy asked, a wicked smirk playing at her lips.

“Later,” Maggie promised. “Right now I want to hear you both.”


	8. Director Sanvers at the Gym

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Director Sanvers prompt: They’re all too gay to function while at the gym!

On the one hand, Alex was beyond relieved to have to work most of the winter holidays, since it meant that she wouldn’t have to head back to Midvale to deal with intrusive questions about her relationship—why, yes, I am a lesbian, and yes, they are both my girlfriends—from well-meaning family and friends. But a part of her felt guilty; she and Eliza were doing better, and after losing Jeremiah a second time, she suspected Eliza might have liked to have been surrounded by both her daughters and their partners during a time of year that seemed to designed to make single people feel lonely. Sure, she’d promised Eliza that she would come visit the weekend after New Years to make up for it, but she still felt guilty, like she was failing her mother yet again.

Sensing Alex’s mood, Maggie and Lucy resolved to do everything they could to cheer her up. Some of it was as straightforward as helping Alex to pick out presents for the family and ship them to Midvale on the Supergirl express so that they would arrive in plenty of time. But with alien crime requiring DEO intervention at all-time low levels—like most everyone, they too wanted to take a few days to eat too many sweets and drink a bit too much and enjoy time with families after what had been a rather long and tense year for the whole community—Alex was restless. And restless Alex had too much time and mental energy that she used to dwell on how she should really be at home, being a better daughter.

“You know what you need, Alex?” Lucy asked, hopping up on Alex’s desk.

“A larger desk to accommodate both you and Maggie?” Alex snarked back.

“Nah, I fit just fine,” Maggie lilted, clambering up onto the desk to perch next to Lucy. Even though she was working a few shifts this week, she’d gotten more time off than Alex.

“You need something to burn off some of that excess energy,” Lucy declared.

“Mmm, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Maggie asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Probably not,” Lucy shrugged. “We should go to the gym.” Seeing the looks of disappointment on both of their faces, Lucy continued: “Think about it: we’re all so used to morning training sessions and fighting with huge aliens all day…”

“And fucking all night,” Maggie chimed in, looking beyond pleased with herself.

“Yes, well, that one we’re still doing. But we should get in a workout. I’m telling you, we’ll all feel better,” Lucy insisted.

“Fine,” Alex shrugged, figuring Lucy probably had a point. It had been colder than usual in the mornings, which made the option of staying in her bed curled in between her girlfriends so much more tempting than usual, leading her to skip more runs than was, perhaps, advisable.

“Ugh, I guess,” Maggie finally gave in, dragging herself off of the desk. “I assume we’ll be going to the DEO’s indoor gym for my two California girls?”

“Hey, I didn’t grow up here,” Lucy pouted. “Army brat, remember?”

“Ah, right, you just acclimated too well,” Maggie teased. Even if she didn’t consider Nebraska her home in any real sense anymore—and hadn’t for a long time—she still enjoyed making fun of Lucy and Alex’s hatred of any kind of prolonged exposure to the cold.

Rolling her eyes, Lucy hopped off of the desk, grabbing Alex’s hand and leading her toward the locker rooms where she knew Alex kept plenty of spare workout clothes.

\---

“The treadmill, Danvers, really?” Maggie teased.

“Warming up is good for you,” Alex yelled back. “Plus, Lucy’s on the damn elliptical!”

“You two both love what it does for my ass,” Lucy shot back, grinning when she noticed two sets of eyes fall to her butt, watching as Alex broke her stride and Maggie completely stopped doing jumping jacks.

“Well, the treadmill is great for my thigh muscles,” Alex added, looking rather smug as she got back into her workout, upping the speed—maybe to show off just a little, though she’d never admit it.

“The better to strain against the restraints with, huh?” Lucy teased, cackling as Alex nearly tripped and fell off of the treadmill, her face suddenly bright red from something other than exertion.

Figuring if she was already blushing, she might as well go all in, Alex craned her neck to glare at Lucy. “Are we just going to let you off the hook for why you might want your ass to look so perfect?”

“Ooh, she’s got you there, Lane!” Maggie yelled as she wrapped her hands before heading over to the punching bag. “Nothing like those nights when you finally bottom for me and beg for—”

“Are we not going to talk about why you’re so adamant about having so much upper body strength?” Lucy interjected, effectively cutting off Maggie’s taunts.

“Uh, cause you love it when I pick Alex up, duh,” Maggie retorted, winking at Alex in the mirror, who just shook her head, glad to find Maggie and Lucy picking on each other for a change.

“More like you need to practice so your arm doesn’t cramp up again when Alex begs you to fuck her harder,” Lucy teased.

“It was one time!” Maggie whined, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yeah…one time when you were damn lucky that I was there to step in to make sure our Alex was satisfied.”

“I’m right here,” Alex grumbled. “Plus, you know that I’ve got more upper body strength than either of you.”

“What?” Lucy exclaimed, shooting Alex a look of mock indignation.

“That sounds like a challenge issued,” Maggie declared.

“I literally spar with Supergirl.”

“Under kryptonite emitters,” Maggie countered.

“They’re not turned all the way up,” Alex shot back.

“Push up contest!” Lucy yelled gleefully. “I’ll judge.”

“You forfeiting?” Maggie asked, looking incredulous

“I’d rather watch you two go at it,” Lucy winked.

“You did seem to get off on it last night,” Alex chimed in, always glad to remind her girlfriends that she could give as good as they could, even if she didn’t do it as often.

“Is that how you’re gonna judge the competition too? One hand between your legs…?” Maggie asked, sucking her lower lip between her teeth and grinning broadly at Lucy’s huff of indignation as she got off the elliptical.

“On the mats,” Lucy barked, taking on the drill sergeant persona that Alex and even Maggie seemed to enjoy.

“Yes, ma’am,” Maggie mock saluted.

After getting off of the treadmill, Alex nodded, “Will do,” before pulling Lucy in for a decidedly non-chaste kiss.

“Cheating!” Maggie yelled. “You’re biasing the judge!”

“Mm, the judge declares it perfectly legal,” Lucy murmured, losing herself once more in Alex’s lips.

By the time they got around to the actual competition, both Maggie and Alex had taken plenty of turns “biasing the judge” in their favor. But Alex was still competitive enough to want to go ahead with the competition. So she dropped to the mats, arching an eyebrow challengingly up at Maggie. “You gonna forfeit before we even start?”

“Not a chance, Danvers,” Maggie retorted, getting down so that they were facing one another.

Alex just licked her lips at the sight of Maggie’s cleavage now on prominent display as she held herself up right in front of Alex.

“Go!” Lucy yelled, before counting out numbers, making sure they stayed even and that their noses made it all the way down to the ground before they pushed themselves back up.

Around number 80, Maggie’s arms started to shake. It wasn’t fair, she reasoned; she had been doing arm work before, while Alex had just been running—and she was quick to voice those concerns. Playing arbiter to this dispute, Lucy decided they should change the rules to make it more fun and “fair.”

“Think you can handle a little more, Alex?” Lucy asked, grinning when Alex just scoffed and nodded that, yes, of course she could.

To her credit, Alex made only the smallest of groans when Lucy climbed onto her back, before finding her rhythm once more. “This is really sexy,” Lucy purred into Alex’s ear, feeling the woman’s arms falter at that.

When Maggie’s arms finally gave out, she decided to give Lucy a hand in making this workout increasingly difficult for Alex, who, she had to admit, looked impossibly attractive with her muscles out and on full display and sweat beading on her forehead and chest. Plus, there was the fact that Lucy had wrapped herself around Alex and was pressing teasing kisses to her shoulders and neck that were not helping Alex’s form.

Very carefully, Maggie maneuvered herself, slipping between Alex’s arms when she raised herself up so that Alex’s face came straight down into her chest, which, admittedly, wasn’t quite her intention—she’d just been too slow to get all the way down to greet Alex with a kiss—but it worked just as well.

On Alex’s next trip down to the mat, Maggie was waiting with a long, smoldering kiss that only ended when Alex finally dropped her knees to the ground, happily giving in if it meant that Lucy and Maggie would stop teasing her. Plus, she had already proved that she clearly had the superior upper body strength.

“I think you should reward the winner, Mags,” Lucy suggested, a flirty lilt to her voice as she rolled Alex over on the mat.

“Mm, and how do you suggest I reward her?” Maggie asked, already crawling between Alex’s legs and fingering the waistband of her shorts.

“With how sore your arms are, I assume your tongue’s probably the safer bet…” Lucy trailed off, grinning at the way Alex’s hips bucked up into the air at that, the way her quiet, desperate whimpers echoed off the walls of the otherwise empty gym.

“Wait!” Alex suddenly gasped, pulling her head up. “Are all of our phones on loud, right? J’onn would kill us if we missed an emergency for…for, this!”

“To be fair, I think he’d also pull that horrified dad act if he knew that this happened at all, regardless of whether we missed an alien attack because of it,” Lucy added, shrugging nonchalantly.

But Maggie, knowing Alex well enough to know that she’d be far too stressed to come if she thought they were missing an emergency, rushed over to their bags, pulling all three phones out, setting the volume to loud, and lining them up on the side of the mat.

“Feel better now?” Maggie asked, smiling softly at her ever-responsible girlfriend.

“Much,” Alex nodded.

“Good,” Lucy sighed, feigning exasperation at the delay. “Now, come on, I’d like a show.”

Rolling her eyes, Maggie took pains to stick her ass out as she bent forward, hooking her fingers under Alex’s shorts and pulling them down along with her underwear, licking her lips at the string of arousal that still connected Alex to them. She found she couldn’t wait, didn’t have the patience to tease Alex, who still looked sweaty and strong and perfect underneath her.

Alex moaned loudly at the first slow stroke of Maggie’s tongue, only thinking afterward to keep the volume low in case one of the two or three agents also on duty dared to leave the posts she’d assigned them to.

The vibrations of Maggie’s own moans against her clit quickly pulled Alex from her thoughts, and her hips bucked up at the sight of Lucy on her knees behind Maggie, her fingers thrusting into the woman. When Lucy caught her gaze and winked, it took all of Alex’s self-restraint to keep from lunging forward and kissing Lucy hard, maybe helping her to fuck Maggie…

Feeling Maggie’s walls clenching around her fingers, Lucy smirked, hooking them forward to drag against Maggie’s front wall the way she knew the detective loved. “You get to come once Alex does,” Lucy instructed.

And suddenly Alex was crying out as Maggie redoubled her efforts, sucking her clit between her lips and slipping a finger inside of Alex. Maggie always wanted Alex to come, but right now she absolutely needed her to come, needed her to come hard and fast so that Maggie could stop fighting back her own orgasm. And so she fucked Alex harder, ignoring the way her muscles ached, let her free hand come up to find Alex’s chest, tugging at her nipples through her sports bra.

When Alex finally came, hips stuttering under Maggie’s touch and moans stifled into her own fist, Lucy finally whispered her permission to Maggie, groaning at the sight of her girls both coming beneath her.

By the time they had caught their breath and managed to pull their eyes open, Lucy was already two fingers-deep inside of herself, biting at her lips as her hips rolled forward into her own hand.

“I think our judge deserves more of a reward than that, don’t you?” Maggie asked, grinning salaciously at Lucy.

“Mm, I think so,” Alex nodded in agreement.

But then Alex’s phone was ringing and the DEO pager she still had was pinging from over in her bag. So Lucy let herself fall over the edge, gasping and catching herself on her free hand as she fell forward. “Later,” she panted. “After whatever this is.”

“Promise,” Alex nodded before answering her phone. “Danvers.”


	9. Pre-Director Sanvers V Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (This is the last of the chapters that have been cross-posted from Stronger Together! Starting later this week, I'll be getting new chapters up - I've got 3 in the queue, though I think a part 2 for this one will be what happens next; otherwise it's an angsty one that will likely be much more work appropriate) 
> 
> 4 Prompts in 1 – What?? Some of these have been sitting with me for a little while now, and then they sort of coalesced nicely (maybe? hopefully?) into one massive piece that brought together a few ideas I’d had - part 2 is still in the works, but I wanted to get some feedback before I threw myself into something that maybe you all really won't be able to get behind.  
> Also, the title is shit...I recognize that. Feel free to suggest new ones.
> 
> 1\. Lillil40: fic of alex/lucy or maybe pre-sanvers maggie being jealous of lucy
> 
> 2\. Hi! Could write Director Sanvers as a V instead of a triad sometimes? I like your existing Director Sanvers work, it's just that I've only seen them as a V once, if ever. Please and thank you!
> 
> 3\. Lou: Please do a jealous angsty Sanvers fanfic.
> 
> 4\. Tumblr prompt fill for 12. “I think we need to talk.” – Director Sanvers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is set earlier on in Alex’s relationship with Maggie than we've gotten to in the show, and, obviously, it is canon-divergent (heyyy, Lucy!)
> 
> A/N 2: Credit for a small joke about Alex’s wanted poster goes out to nerdsbianhokie and iamsuperconfused and definitely probably some more people whose names I can’t find at the moment

“Lucy?” Alex asked, her voice tinged with disbelief. It had been so many months with only the most sporadic of updates.

“Hey,” Lucy waved, a huge grin on her face as she jogged over to Alex. “How are you? It feels like it’s been forever”

“Me? I’ve been in National City this whole time. What about you? What have you been doing? Hell, where have you been?”

“Didn’t you get my carrier pigeons?” Lucy asked, looking genuinely confused by Alex’s reaction.

“Carrier pigeons?” Maggie interjected, scoffing quietly. She didn’t ask it yet, but she also desperately wanted to know who this gorgeous woman was whose hands hadn’t stopped touching her girlfriend since she arrived.

Alex chuckled. “Yeah, apparently Luce thinks it’s, and I’ll quote, ‘not that weird.’ I told her she’s just being a hipster.”

“Not a hipster if I’m not trying to be one,” Lucy countered.

“So you’re just…weird?” Alex teased, nudging Lucy. Maggie forced a laugh, her eyes focusing on the way that Lucy and Alex seemed to draw energy from one another, both looking significantly lighter and cheerier with every casual touch, every teasing remark.

Before Maggie could interject again, maybe to introduce herself, Kara was flying into the room and pulling Lucy into a tight hug that left her feet dangling in the air. “Lucy!” Kara squealed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”

“I wanted to surprise this one,” Lucy winked, nudging Alex, “and you can’t keep a secret to save your life.”

“I’ve gotten better,” Kara grumbled.

“Sure you have, dear.”

“So why’d you want to surprise me?” Alex asked.

“Also, who are you?” Maggie finally chimed in. Perhaps the question was a bit rude, but she really didn’t appreciate being shunted to the sidelines without a word the second someone new came back.

“Major Lucy Lane, Co-Director of the DEO,” Lucy introduced herself, suddenly standing tall and offering a formal handshake.

Of course she is, Maggie thought as she extended her hand. “Detective Maggie Sawyer, NCPD, Science Division.”

“You’re letting local cops in here now?” Lucy laughed incredulously, wondering when Alex had grown so lenient.

Clearing her throat and blushing a bright shade of pink, Alex rubbed her hand cross the back of her neck and added, “Maggie is also my girlfriend.”

“Right,” Lucy nodded curtly, her jaw clenching slightly. “Well, we should definitely catch up, huh? Maybe drinks tonight? I’ve got to go talk to J’onn now, update him on the project I’ve been working on.”

“Sure,” Alex nodded. “Noonan’s at 8?”

“Yeah, alright. See you then.”

Once Lucy had left and Kara had gotten distracted by something Winn was looking at on his computer, Maggie turned to Alex. “What, uh, what was that about?”

“What was what about?” Alex asked, her voice slightly breathier than normal.

“Oh, I don’t know. The touching? The flirtiness? The sexual tension? The way I could have disappeared without either of you two noticing? The way she got all weird when you introduced me as your girlfriend? Maybe we start with literally any of that.”

“Are you…are you jealous?” Alex asked, deflecting attention away from a few of the more legitimate points Maggie had made. She was still head over heels for Maggie; Lucy’s return didn’t change that fact.

“It sure looked like I had reason to be! Either she’s homophobic or she likes you.”

“What? Pfft, no. She’s not, she doesn’t do relationships these days.”

“Until recently a lot of my ex-girlfriends would have said the same thing about me,” Maggie mumbled, not wanting to add that now she let herself think about a rather domestic future with Alex—the kind of future she used to mock regularly.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it here,” Alex finally said.

“That means there’s something to talk about.”

“I’m not leaving you for Lucy,” Alex snapped.

“Fine. I’m gonna go…just, I don’t know…enjoy drinks.” And before Alex could say any more, Maggie was turning on her heel and walking quickly out of the DEO.

\---

“Wanna grab dinner too?” Alex texted Lucy, figuring she might as well make plans since Maggie wasn’t answering any of her texts or calls.

“Yeah…sure your girlfriend won’t mind?” Lucy sent back.

“Are you not okay with her?”

“Fine. Just surprised to see you suddenly so…out of the closet.”

“Can we not do this over text?”

“Fine…that Chinese place Kara loves?”

“6pm,” Alex sent, putting her phone down and groaning into her hands. She’d been so excited to see Lucy back at the DEO, but somehow it had all gone downhill from there.

Her afternoon seemed to race by, propelling her closer and closer to her dinner with Lucy. She had no idea what to expect, though she was fairly certain it would involve a lot of rehashing of old arguments that she thought were long since resolved.

\---

“So…what finally dragged Alex Danvers out of the closet?” Lucy asked, forcing a laugh that sounded fake even to her.

“I just, Maggie said some things, and I got to thinking…I don’t know. She got me to tell Kara, then, you know how Kara is—once I told her it was real, a thing about me. And once I kind of wrapped my head around that, I felt…better about it—proud, even.”

“So it was Maggie?”

“I mean, kind of. But it’s also something I was going to need to deal with eventually.”

Lucy nodded, picking at her food in silence for a few minutes. But the nagging questions at the back of her head made her stomach twist painfully. “Why wasn’t I enough?” Lucy finally snapped.

“You never asked for anything more than what we had,” Alex retorted, feeling herself getting defensive at Lucy’s tone.

Lucy swallowed heavily, shoving down all the angry things she could yell, knowing they wouldn’t help—never had, especially not with Alex. In the beginning, she’d been perfectly happy with how things were…

~

_Lucy ran into Alex at one of the more…eclectic bars in National City—the kind of place you went to get drunk away from the people you knew or to go home with someone who’d help you to forget whatever drove you there in the first place. She knew why she was there. It was the kind of place you went when the man you moved across the country for leaves you for some blonde chick he’s clearly been in love with since before you showed up. And Lucy couldn’t even be mad at the woman—Kara, she corrected—she was the walking, talking embodiment of fucking sunshine, which just left her even more frustrated. Between the breakup and learning that her dad hadn’t been the type of man she’d once believed him to be—a common thread in her life—she needed a drink and maybe a warm body to remind her she was still desirable._

_She made eye contact with Alex, nodding her head slightly and getting a tip of Alex’s glass in return. She wondered what drove the other woman here…_

_Between failing her dad again and being forced to attack her own sister before nearly losing her to some starry void, Alex was exhausted. Kara had made her promise to find love, to find happiness, but she didn’t feel worthy of either of those things. She’d killed people, aliens. She’d disappointed her parents again. She hadn’t been able to save J’onn the way she should have—had forced him to expose himself, nearly getting a second father killed. All Alex wanted was a drink or five in a bar where she wouldn’t have to see her sister look at her over her glasses, leave her boyfriend for the night to make sure that Alex was okay. It would just mean that Alex spent another night less drunk than she’d like to be and lying through her teeth to try to assuage Kara’s fears._

_She noticed as Lucy settled in a couple seats down from her at the bar, motioning for the bartender and smiling gratefully when he brought over a generous glass of some amber-colored liquid—Alex had been too distracted by the sight of Lucy waiting to look at what the bartender was getting her. She dropped her gaze back to her own tumbler before Lucy could notice her staring. It wasn’t her place to pry. Just because the woman had tried to send her to some government black ops site from which she’d never return—and rescued her, Alex added, not letting herself think back to the way her heart had thundered in her chest at the sight of Lucy pulling off her motorcycle helmet and shaking out locks of wavy brown hair, somehow looking like a model even after being shot at for blocks._

_A couple of drinks later, Lucy moved down two seats. She felt pleasantly warm. Everything was just a little softer at the edges, but nowhere near being doubled yet. She left one seat between them—respectable distance, she thought. Professional._

_“Hey,” Alex finally said._

_“Hey,” Lucy answered, looking at the empty seat. As if she knew exactly what Lucy was thinking, Alex slid over one._

_“What brings you here? I didn’t really think of you at a place like this.” Someone like Alex belonged here; someone like Lucy—with her designer clothes and director title—she belonged somewhere nice._

_Lucy debated lying, but she’d had enough to drink that the truth slipped out: “Oh, you know: break up, newfound distaste for my father, gut-wrenching guilt over nearly sending two innocent people to an underground prison. The usual. You?”_

_Alex laughed darkly. “Sounds about right. Let’s just leave it at perpetual disappointment, hmm?”_

_“Cheers to having sisters who can do no wrong,” Lucy raised her nearly empty glass, clinking it against Alex’s._

_Alex swallowed the last of her drink in one go, feeling warmth run through her veins. She was by no means as drunk as she had planned to get, but she found, sitting next to Lucy, that she was content. She’d had enough to numb the aching sense of guilt, to quiet the voices yelling at her, reminding her how unworthy she was, how she could never even hope to compare._

_Lucy nodded, then continued, “You’re, uh, you’re pretty impressive yourself, though. I mean, I know that’s not why you’re here, maybe not even something you want to hear, probably not from me, at least. But it’s true.”_

_Alex shrugged. “Appreciate it,” she mumbled, “even if I don’t believe it.”_

_“I called you a traitor and sent you to Cadmus. Really think I’m one to pull punches?” Lucy asked, arching an eyebrow._

_“You’ve got a point. But you also rescued me. And J’onn. And that makes you a much better person than your father could ever hope to be.”_

_“Thanks,” Lucy whispered. It sort of felt like forgiveness._

_After another drink, Lucy’s head found it’s way to Alex’s shoulder. Alex’s hand moved toward hers on the bar. Then Lucy’s other hand was on Alex’s thigh, feeling the toned muscles tighten under her touch._

_“Do you want to…” Lucy trailed off, skimming her fingers higher up Alex’s thigh. She’d seen the way Alex’s legs had spread almost imperceptibly each time she went higher. She’d heard the slight hitch in Alex’s breath. And, god, she wanted something to clear her head tonight._

_“I’m not gay,” Alex spat out, feeling her stomach churn at the thought of yet another way she could disappoint her mother._

_“Okay. So you don’t want to?” Lucy checked, pulling her hand away._

_Breathing heavily, Alex tried to say no, no she didn’t want this; no, she wasn’t gay. But she already missed Lucy’s warm hands on her thigh, wanted to know what they might feel like elsewhere. And just because she did something with a woman, it didn’t make her gay… After all, she was fairly certain she might have done something with women during grad school—she didn’t quite remember, and there was a good chance she did it for free drinks, but still—and that hadn’t made her any less heterosexual._

_“I didn’t say that,” Alex finally whispered._

_“Good.” Lucy grinned and slipped off of the barstool, dropping enough cash on the bar to cover both of their drinks and a generous tip._

_By the time they got back to Lucy’s place—there was never a question, given Kara’s penchant for flying in at odd hours—they had both sobered slightly, both sobered enough to confirm that they were consenting adults who would be able to look at each other tomorrow, see one another at work, be professionals. Tonight was about—about the same reasons that drove them to the bar in the first place._

_It had been equal parts rough and soft—wet, hungry kisses mixed with achingly tender caresses; deep, hard thrusts and long, slow licks. It was clumsy and a little sloppy and perfectly satisfying. They fell asleep naked and sweaty and spent, sprawled across Lucy’s bed._

_The next morning, they’d nodded and pulled on clothing. Alex had smiled when she said goodbye, and Lucy hadn’t asked her to stay. It was good._

~

“I guess it’s too late to tell you that I regret never asking for more?” Lucy asked, looking wistful as she played with the straw in her drink.

“You’re the one that left, Luce.”

“And you’re the one that freaked out when I took you to dinner.”

“It wasn’t like you were out either.”

“But I would have been—that’s the difference, Alex.”

“Look, I…I’m with Maggie now. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the way I treated you after the date-dinner thing. I was shitty. To you. And to myself. But I liked how close we were—the friend bit too. And if that’s still an option, I’d like that.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to put all that on you. I just, I’ve been away for a long time. And I missed you…more than I thought I would. Then I made the mistake of surprising you, not knowing that things had changed. But I can do that—be friends, I mean. Because that’s what we were, right? Friends. Friends who slept together, but still friends.”

“Right,” Alex nodded, willing herself to believe that friendship was safe, to forget the way her body still seemed to react to Lucy’s proximity.

“So…drinks?” Lucy suggested, thinking it would probably do them both some good to get out of the restaurant and into a more open space.

\---

Hours later, Lucy and Alex stumbled down the hallway of Alex’s building, giggling loudly and shushing each other. Lucy’s heels were dangling from her fingers, and Alex was missing the sweater she’d been wearing earlier, but, god, she didn’t even care—it had been so much fun.

Around drink number three the awkwardness between them had seemed to dissipate. Alex started playing, “Have you met Luce?” with the most attractive men and women she could find at the bar, while Lucy earned them free drinks for the night by getting Alex to arm wrestle men two to three times her size and win.

Eventually they’d started subbing out free drinks for free bar food, stuffing their faces with enough fried goodness to absorb some of the alcohol, trying to save themselves from the hangover from hell the following day. It was then, a bit sobered up, that Lucy grumbled, “Fuck.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Alex asked, ready to go punch whatever asshole had knocked into Lucy or stolen her tater tots or something else equally awful.

“I, er, I sort of assumed that I would just crash at your place tonight…”

“Oh…well, I mean, you still can. Friends sleep with each other—I mean sleep next to each other.”

“I can sleep on the couch,” Lucy offered, but Alex had just shrugged, said they’d figure it out when they got home.

What she hadn’t planned on was that when they stumbled through the door to her apartment, Maggie would be sitting in the living room, her eyes rimmed in red and a mug of tea clutched in her hands, waiting for any sign that Alex was okay, alive, hadn’t gotten hurt or something out on a mission.

“You’re here? At my place? Thought you said you didn’t want to see me,” Alex slurred.

Maggie clenched her jaw, grabbing her keys and her coat. “Didn’t realize you’d rebound so soon,” she growled, desperate to get out of the apartment before the tears came.

“No! No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong,” Lucy said, standing in the doorway and blocking Maggie’s path. “I’m just here because I didn’t get a hotel. We’re not fucking anymore.”

“Anymore?” Maggie repeated, looking incredulously over at Alex. “What happened to telling me I had no reason to be jealous?”

“You don’t,” Alex insisted, but she couldn’t find the words to explain it properly, her head spinning now and incapable of coherent thought. “I just, it was a thing. Way before you. Not a thing now, though. Because we’re together. And I…I want to be together. With you, I mean.”

“Thanks for the clarification, Al.”

“She’s being honest,” Lucy added, rather unhelpfully.

“Yeah, well, you can just have a great night with my girlfriend. Alex, I’ll talk to you when you’re not falling over yourself drunk.”

“You don’t get to judge me!” Alex yelled, hearing every complaint her mother had ever made about her drinking echoed in those words, feeling her own self-hatred, memories of wasted years, of wasted potential, bubbling up inside her.

“Yeah, actually, I think I do.” And then Maggie was forcing her way past Lucy, who wasn’t exactly steady enough to defend the doorway, and storming down the hallway.

Feeling incredibly guilty for wishing that Alex could still be hers, feeling like she’d somehow caused this whole mess, Lucy looked up at Alex. “You should probably go get her if you want to keep doing whatever it is you two are doing.”

“Fuck, right,” Alex nodded, ditching her shoes and taking off down the hall, dashing into the stairwell and hoping it would be faster. After stumbling a few times, she finally got to a good pace, ignoring the way her head spun and her vision blurred with each turn. She ran into Maggie around the first floor, since she was apparently walking at a more human pace.

“What do you want?” Maggie snapped, trying to covertly dry her cheeks.

“You,” Alex declared, pushing Maggie up against the wall and kissing her hard.

“Stop!” Maggie yelled, shoving Alex off of her. “I don’t want your pity fuck or whatever it is you think we’re doing. You taste like the floor of a fucking bar.”

“I’m not that drunk anymore, Maggie. I kissed you because I want to kiss you—I always want to kiss you. I’m not trying to cheat on you or anything like that, okay? I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not telling you. How was I supposed to explain something I never really dealt with myself?”

Seeing the way Alex looked so upset, so pitiful, Maggie’s shoulders sagged slightly, the fight draining from her. “Look, I’m still not happy.”

“I know. I get that.”

“But you can kiss me if you want, if you’re sober enough for it.”

“I am,” Alex nodded, surging forward and pushing Maggie into the wall, sliding her tongue between Maggie’s lips and tugging Maggie closer by her belt loops. “God, you feel so good,” Alex groaned.

Maggie moaned loudly—too loudly for the stairwell, the sound echoing around them—but pulled back when Alex’s fingers fumbled with her zipper. “Not tonight.”

“I’m not that drunk. I want you.”

“But _I_ need some space,” Maggie explained.

“Oh, oh, right. Sorry,” Alex apologized, taking several steps backward and looking distraught.

“You’re okay. You didn’t do anything I didn’t want.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded.

“Just…go sleep this off. And we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Okay…”

“Night, Alex.”

“Night, Maggie.”

\---

The next day, Alex found herself sitting in Maggie’s apartment, nursing a strong coffee and squinting in the last fading rays of daylight streaming through Maggie’s windows.

“So you didn’t drink that much, huh?” Maggie asked, looking slightly pleased by Alex’s discomfort.

“Shut up, please.”

“Hmm…no. I think you deserve this.”

“Probably,” Alex admitted.

“Want to tell me what’s really up with you and the Major?”

Taking a deep breath, Alex finally launched into the whole story, starting with the accusations of treason, essentially, and being shipped off to Cadmus, then being on the run from the law for several months.

“Fuck! That’s why you looked so familiar! I mean, your hair was straighter then, but your face was plastered on all the wanted posters we had to hang up at the station!”

“You take one home and frame it?” Alex teased.

“Nah, just jacked off to it, obviously,” Maggie deadpanned.

“You’re so gross.”

“You like it.”

“I do,” Alex admitted.

“But continue…so the woman accuses you of lying and ships you off to a black ops prison that doesn’t exist, much like the DEO.”

“Right,” Alex laughed humorlessly, then continued, detailing the rescue and the way they reconnected when she got back, how they lived through Myriad together, how they worked side-by-side at the DEO, grew to respect each other. With a deep breath, she told Maggie about their first night together, then skimmed over all of the following nights they’d fallen into bed together.

“And you didn’t, at any point, pause to ask whether that was a little gay?”

“I mean, I didn’t let myself pause long enough to be forced to think about it.” Maggie nodded; she got it, even if it wasn’t her own experience. “But you…you’re the one that finally did that for me. You’re the one I fell for so hard that I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

“But Lucy…I mean, she came back for you, right?”

“How did you—how could you—how?” Alex stammered.

“I can see the way she looks at you, Danvers. It’s the same way I look at you. And as much as she tried to hide it over breakfast—which, can we just go ahead and call it what it was: the world’s most awkward breakfast?—there’s so much regret there. Who wouldn’t fall for you?”

“Vicky Donahue,” Alex laughed, dismissing further questions with a shake of her head. “But, fine, yes, she did mention that she regretted not trying harder to do more than just sleep together. But I said no! I told her I have a girlfriend, that I’d never cheat on you.”

“I believe you, Al, I do,” Maggie began, her voice soft as she put a hand on top of Alex’s. “But I think we need to talk.”

“No! Maggie, please, no,” Alex pleaded. She knew those words, knew they came before a breakup—the kind where she gets let down easily, like someone so much more fragile than she really is. “You told me you didn’t want to imagine your life without me in it, but I feel the same way. I can’t, I don’t want to have to lose you. I said no. Nothing happened, I swear.”

“Alex, I mean it when I say that I believe you. But I also see the way you look at her. And I don’t think she’s wrong for thinking that there might have been something between the two of you. That there might still be something between the two of you.”

“But I’m with you.”

Maggie took a deep breath, trying to get her feelings in order for this conversation. She’d thought about it all night, then again after their breakfast together, and tried to focus on the words she’d planned then. “Right. And I want to be with you too. But, well, just because we’re together doesn’t mean you couldn’t date Lucy as well.”

“Are we…are we not exclusive?”

“We have been, but I’ve also been in poly relationships. Right now, I’m happy with just you, but I want to see you happy too, Alex. I’ve always wanted to see you happy. And…” she took a deep breath, “I think being with Lucy would make you happy.”

“Does that mean—are we all dating?”

“Fuck, no,” Maggie laughed. “Look, I can see the way she looks at you and the way she treats you, but for now, she and I aren’t even friends, and I don’t want to try dating her from a starting point of literally nothing. Could that change in the future? Maybe. Do I see it changing? Not really.”

“So I would…I would date both of you?”

“I mean, you’d definitely date me. I suggest you check in with Lucy first about you two.”

“No shit,” Alex laughed, hoping that was appropriate. But then Maggie was grinning and rolling her eyes, and things almost felt okay.

“And you won’t be jealous? I mean, you seemed pretty upset yesterday.”

“I was upset when it was a surprise,” Maggie explained. “This—this would be deliberate, a choice we made together. I’d know why you were out late or spending time with her. And that makes a huge difference.”

“But, I mean, we’ve been together for a little while. I feel like, like we’re more serious, further along in the relationship, you know?”

“Well, maybe I’m your primary partner, at least for now. Maybe you try dating Lucy, and it doesn’t work. Maybe she won’t even want to try this—not everyone is as…open as you seem to be about trying something new. And maybe none of it will work. It’s something we’ll need to talk about and be really honest about.”

“I will, I know,” Alex nodded.

“Alright. Well, did you want to go ask her out and kiss the girls you wanna kiss and all that?”

“That plural suddenly makes a lot more sense,” Alex mused.

“You’re such a dork,” Maggie teased.

“Takes one to know one.” Maggie stuck her tongue out. “But I think tonight—tonight I want to spend with you.”

“Is that so?” Maggie asked, arching an eyebrow. She might have said no when Alex was drunk, but she wasn’t going to turn down makeup sex; it was the best kind, after all.

“Yeah…I think I’d like to remind you just how much I like being with you.”

“Well, then, demonstrate away,” Maggie grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, anticipating the: “But wait! Isn’t Maggie the reason Alex came out? How could she have been sleeping with Lucy for months and still think of herself as straight?” that I’ve gotten when talking about this type of plot before, I reply: you were clearly not as closeted/Catholic as I was. Congratulations! That is all.


	10. Focus on Alex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, realized I missed one from Stronger Together! This is now officially the last of the crossover chapters...
> 
> Okay, so I combined two different prompts from two different people on Tumblr, hope you enjoy! Fair warning, it’s heavy and deals with depression, so if that’s not something you’re in the right mental state to read now, I totally understand
> 
> Prompt 1: For director sanvers (or just sanvers) what if one of them is like really silent and not showing emotion they’re just /that/ depressed and they keep zoning out and stuff. I kinda wanna see how they would handle that kind of thing.
> 
> Prompt 2: Could you maybe write something about Alex reflecting on the irony of how she was trained to be a doctor (I presume she did get an MD because of how she mentioned that she gave up a career in medicine for Kara), someone who saves lives, and now she basically takes lives, working as a soldier, basically?

Alex pulled the blanket tighter around herself. She had sworn up and down to Maggie and Lucy that she would be just fine without them for the weekend. Of course she understood that Lucy needed to go to Washington; it was part of her job. And of course it wasn’t Maggie’s fault that she also had to be gone that weekend to give a talk on training law enforcement officers to be more sensitive to the different needs and responses of the alien community. And honestly, she got it. She wasn’t going to hold them back—no, that was something she reserved for herself.

But by the time her girlfriends were gone, Alex couldn’t quite bring herself to get up and make dinner. Or even to go out for food. In fact, just about anything other than sleeping or sitting and staring at her ceiling sounded rather awful. So she cancelled plans with Kara, citing the long week they had had at the DEO. She swore that she didn’t need anything brought to her or any company showing up at her apartment. Why everyone thought she couldn’t handle herself for a few days was beyond her. She still managed to pull herself out of bed and through the door each morning, staggering through her day as though she weren’t carrying the weight of her failures on her shoulders.

And it wasn’t like she could even pinpoint one particular failure that was making her feel this way, which meant there were no rational, goal-oriented solutions to devise, which just left her feeling increasingly useless. Not like her girlfriends, who seemed to have their lives so very put together, while she wondered what it was about her life that even made it worth continuing to live. Not that she actively wanted to kill herself—no, she didn’t actively want to do anything—she just had trouble fathoming a reason to keep on going. It wasn’t like she was Kara, whose heroics saved thousands every single day. It wasn’t like she was Lucy, who gritted her teeth and dealt with the white male politicians and bureaucrats down in Washington every month to try to pass real legislation that would make a positive impact on individuals’ lives. It wasn’t like she was Maggie, who fought day in and day out to reform a corrupt power system from the inside.

No. She was a soldier. The soldier her parents had never wanted her to be. A soldier who was still a doctor. A doctor who had taken a fucking oath to protect lives, to save them. And yet here she was, guns and knives strapped to her hips and thighs. An extra knife tucked into her heavy combat boot. A mental litany of tactics she could use to cripple a man twice her size even without a weapon. She walked around with death on her hands, the lives she had taken a constant presence. And what made it worse was that they didn’t haunt her in the way they should. The men—no, enemies, she chastised, needing to maintain some semblance of reason behind her decisions to pull triggers, to stab, to wound mortally—didn’t haunt her conscience because she had killed them. No, late at night she swore she could only see their ghosts because they reminded her of her own failures, of her failure to be a doctor, to be the daughter her mother hoped she would be, to be anything like her perfect “we don’t kill” sister. Instead she was an agent. A soldier.

By the time Lucy arrived back from Washington and Maggie back from Seattle, Alex was too deep in to pull herself out. She knew she needed to try, so she nodded at their responses, eyes vacant as she looked through them, never at them. Sunday night, they were both so exhausted, jetlagged and sleep-deprived, that they assumed Alex was just tired. It was after midnight. No one was up for deep conversations. So they excused the fact that the apartment looked exactly the way it had when they left, the only sign of life in the unmade bed. They let themselves fall back beneath the covers, their breathing soon evening out as they let sleep claim them.

Alex, though, she had slept for almost 48 hours. So she sat, and dozed, and stared at the wall. And come the next morning, that’s exactly how Maggie and Lucy found her.

“Do you wanna go for a run?” Maggie asked, her voice chipper.

Lucy, who had relished the chance to stop being a morning person once she left the army, groaned. “Nah, you wanna snuggle in bed with me, right?”

But Alex just stared, barely grasping the fact that her girlfriends were talking to her, were trying to engage with her. They felt a world away. Something she certainly didn’t deserve. Didn’t need. They would be just fine without her.

“Al, Alex, are you okay?” Maggie asked, concern lacing her words.

Lucy perked up at the tone. She had assumed Alex was just exhausted too. Bleary eyed, she peered up at the redhead, who was still sitting against the headboard. She barely nodded, trying to dismiss their concerns, trying to make them see that she didn’t matter enough for their concern, that they should go about their infinitely more important days. What would she spend today doing? Maybe get a few experiments done? Design a new weapon—one that was even more effective at maiming, at murdering? Would she be out in the field, sent to subdue enemy combatants, even if that involved lethal force? Would she spend her evening writing out a report detailing the justifications for her actions, reducing lives to utilitarian calculus as she justified murdering one for protecting untold numbers of others? Would she spend the hours devoted to sleep hearing her mother’s voice ringing through her head: “You swore to do no harm, Alexandra. That’s the oath you took. Do no harm permanently. I would call death permanent, Alexandra, wouldn’t you?”

At this point, Alex had been near comatose for ten minutes, her spiraling thoughts taking her far away from the action of her own bedroom where her two girlfriends rushed about around her.

“Alex, honey, please, please come back to us,” Maggie pleaded. She knew she had better training for how to deal with this type of situation, but she just couldn’t find it within herself to be the consummate professional when it was the woman she adored sitting there looking like that.

“Alex,” Lucy said, her voice soft and low, yet still authoritative, “I need you listen to me. I need you to be present right now, okay?”

While Lucy worked through exercises she had learned to deal with soldiers suffering from PTSD and all sorts of trauma-induced anxiety, Maggie stepped out of the bedroom, putting on a pot of coffee and calling them all out sick for the day. Thinking ahead, she called the therapist she had visited when she first started out with the Science Division, when she had to reconcile her own beliefs that aliens had inherent rights and needed to be protected with the job she was so often assigned as the enforcer of law and order in the streets. That sort of cognitive dissonance had eaten away at her, leaving her withdrawn from the world and her colleagues as she struggled to just get through the days. She had asked Alex to see her a few times after the kidnapping, and Alex had complied. She even conceded that she didn’t hate the doctor as much as she expected, which was a win in Maggie’s book. So she made an appointment for the following day, noting that it might involve Alex, or it might just be Maggie needing to talk, to find out how best to help Alex through whatever was going on.

By the time she was done, the coffee was just about ready. She poured three small cups—it was more for the warmth than anything today—and threw a couple of bagels and some of Kara’s reserve freezer donuts onto a plate. She carefully brought them all to the bedroom where she found Lucy holding both of Alex’s hands in her lap and running her free hand through Alex’s hair. It looked like she had succeeded in bringing Alex into the room just a little bit. They were breathing together with an app that Lucy had for her anxiety, for breathing through the panic attacks that still woke her every so often.

“I brought breakfast,” Maggie whispered, trying to keep the mood as calming as possible. Alex managed a small nod, the slightest upturn of her lips. She still didn’t know why they were around, why they were helping when she couldn’t even be bothered to help herself. But they were there. And they were placing a cup of hot coffee and a chocolate-covered donut in front of her telling her that it was hers if she wanted it. And they were holding her hands in their own. And they were stroking her hair and whispering gentle affirmations and promises that if she needed anything they would be there for her, no matter what. And it didn’t ease the stress of her own head. And it didn’t make her want to pull herself out of bed just yet. But somehow, it added another possibility. And somehow, it made the prospect of getting out of bed the next day just a little less daunting. And somehow, it seemed like maybe one day, she could start feeling like she was enough.


	11. Alex in the Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Could you write something where Maggie is watching Alex doing lab work at the DEO? I feel like we just don’t’ get enough scientist Alex, which sucks, because I love badass Alex, but I love scientist Alex too.
> 
> A/N: This is a follow up in a lot of ways to Chapter 10. Thanks to the Tumblr anon who noticed that I missed this the first go around of pulling chapters from Stronger Together!

Chapter Text

Months after the long week Maggie and Lucy spent together in their apartment trying to help Alex, to show her how much she was loved even when she couldn’t see it herself, Alex had finally begun cutting back on her hours out in the field—a long overdue change that J’onn had been pushing for; after all, Alex had tallied more field hours since Kara had come out as Supergirl than any other agent by a wide margin. She started getting back to her lab more and more, to the kind of work that had first gotten her recruited by the DEO and that had taken up more of her time before the arrival of Supergirl and Alex’s personal investment in each and every mission.

Of course, Alex still fretted every time she wasn’t out in the field, knowing that if anything were to happen to Kara she would feel personally responsible, knowing that her mother would find her personally responsible, even though she barely respected the solder side of Alex’s job as it was. But Kara, Maggie, Lucy, and J’onn were all there to push her back into the lab every time a strike team rolled out on a new mission. Alex still went into the field, of course, but she was limited to the same number of missions as the rest of the DEO agents—a number that was low enough to allow for recovery, for therapy sessions, for time away from the violence and death that too often characterized their work.

So Alex grumbled her way back to the lab, only ever pushing if she believed the mission was dangerous enough to warrant an agent with a rank as high as hers to lead Alpha Team. And in those cases, J’onn conceded, though he still made Alex promise to sit out an extra mission later in the week, to make an extra appointment with her therapist, to take an extra hour of leave to spend time at home with her girlfriends (though that last one he couldn’t exactly mandate, but it was the easiest to talk Alex into doing).

Even with taking on fewer field missions, Alex’s reputation as the biggest badass at the DEO stayed relatively untarnished. Only one cocky, relatively young agent dared to make a snarky comment about her sitting out and staying back in the lab. And, well, let’s just say that Lucy Lane was more than happy to have to send herself to Pam for the paperwork and formal warning—so long as assholes like Peterson knew exactly what they’d be up against if they ever spoke in anything other than glowing terms about Alex Danvers. Because Lucy (and Maggie) could see the difference the split time was having on Alex’s mental health. They watched as little by little Alex began to return to them, began to crack a smile now and again without it seeming forced, began to speak passionately about her work again, began to get out of bed and eat breakfast and even accept her girlfriends’ praise for the progress that those small steps constituted.

So the following week, when another telekinetic alien who had been imprisoned in Fort Rozz for a relatively minor offense began stirring up trouble on the outskirts of the city, Alex trusted the agents she had worked to train to go out into the field alongside her sister, while she stayed back in the lab working on a new elixir that mimicked the properties of Kryptonian DNA to help humans heal faster and more efficiently. They would never heal at the rate at which Kara or Clark could, but Alex hoped to be able to treat her agents more quickly, to staunch wounds that might otherwise prove fatal or to expedite the healing process on trickier surgeries.

Lucy and J’onn texted Maggie to let her know that Alex was staying behind for a mission—something they had taken to doing when Lucy had to be out at the dessert base and wouldn’t be around to check in on Alex, make sure she wasn’t beating herself up for not being there for Kara—for, as she saw it, not being strong enough to be there for Kara. Since the day was relatively slow for Maggie, she decided to pick up some burgers and bring lunch to Alex.

One veggie burger, one cheeseburger, and an extra large order of fries in hand, Maggie knocked on the door outside of Alex’s lab. She had learned pretty early never to throw open the door without giving some sort of notice. After a close call with a laser being shot across the room, Alex made Maggie promise to be a bit safer.

“Maggie?” Alex called out from inside.

Maggie cracked the door open ever so slightly. “Yeah! I come bearing lunch. Is it safe to enter?”

“Yeah, yeah, let me just finish up over here, but it’s all safe.”

Maggie ducked inside, shutting the door behind her. She found Alex across the room, hunched over a notebook as she scrawled complex formulas and notes across the page in her thin blue pen, before moving back to peer into what Maggie was certain was an exorbitantly expensive microscope, then back to the page. After a few minutes, Alex finally pulled herself back, rubbing her eyes slightly. She ran her fingers through her wavy hair, pushing it out of her face as she shrugged off her lab coat and threw out her gloves.

“So, what’s my genius girlfriend working on today?” Maggie asked as she settled into the one table at which food was allowed in the back corner of the lab.

Alex just shook her head at the designation. “Please, I’m sure my mother would have already figured it out. This wasn’t, I mean, I’m still struggling, you know, and it’s just, it’s moving. But it’s moving really slowly.” She tried to draw her attention back to the positives, to all of the things that she had accomplished, as her therapist had taught her to do.

“Hey, Alex,” Maggie whispered as her hand came to rest on top of Alex’s, “first of all, you’re doing work that has literally never been done before. Second of all, I’m smart, right? I’m not dumb. I did science at the college level and got As and Bs. But the stuff you’ve got scrawled all over your notebook and whiteboard? Al, that stuff is so high level it’s…I don’t even have an apt comparison! You make me feel like a kindergartener that was just handed Gertrude Stein. So please don’t beat yourself up over the fact that your progress isn’t going as fast as the insanely high expectations you’ve set for yourself. You’re doing groundbreaking work, and you’re actually getting places. That’s what matters.”

“Right, yeah, no, I get that. Factually, I understand it.”

Maggie slid Alex’s burger toward her. “Well, to help you see even more how great you are, want to tell me a bit more about your work? Try to help me understand?”

Alex grinned. Coming in and having Alex play teacher was one of Maggie’s favorite pastimes. As it turned out, Alex quite enjoyed getting to explain her work. The last time she’d had anyone to listen was Kara when they were growing up. But Maggie seemed genuinely interested, which made it so much better.

“Well, I’m still working on that serum that would expedite blood cell coagulation and skin cell regeneration to speed up the healing of wounds. Right now, it works on the blood cells, so the wounds scab really fast, but actually getting the skin cells to regenerate faster is proving much more difficult, which leaves scabs that are torn open again so easily, which means this is basically useless,” Alex huffed out.

“Hold up, that is not useless! Isn’t the scabbing going to help keep people from suffering huge amounts of blood loss?”

“Yes,” Alex conceded.

“And isn’t that going to help keep agents alive, especially if this serum becomes something they can bring out into the field?”

“Yes, but if they have to keep fighting, the cuts will open right back up again if they put too much strain on the skin,” Alex countered.

“Okay, but they wouldn’t have gone right back into action if they were dying or dead, now would they?”

Alex bit back a wry smile. “I’m seeing your point, Sawyer.”

“Mmm, you know nothing turns me on more than hearing you admit that I’m right.”

“And you know that nothing is a bigger turn off to me than having to admit that I’m wrong,” Alex teased back, finally biting into her burger and grabbing a handful of the fries.

“Semantics, semantics. I can be right without you being wrong. I’m only right now because you’re work is so right, even if you can’t see it. Boom, now we’re both right. And we can both be turned on…and do nothing about it because you’re at work.”

“Alas, the perils of a work lunch,” Alex laughed. She knew she needed to learn to rely more on her own sense of self worth than on other people’s words to find value in her work, but for now? For now she felt lighter than she had in a long time. There was something about the way Maggie in particular could find the absolute best in her work and get her to admit it.

“Do you want a lab cheerleader? I’ve got the rest of the day off if I want it. Captain pointed out that I need to take a few hours off before Friday from all the overtime I pulled last week.”

“Wouldn’t you be horribly bored?” Alex asked, looking at Maggie skeptically.

“You really don’t look all that serious with a mouth stuffed full of fries, Danvers,” Maggie teased. “But, no, I wouldn’t be bored. There’s something amazing about watching your mind in action.”

Blushing, Alex nodded her head. “It would be nice to have someone who knows what I’m talking about and already knows how to use a pipette around here to lend a hand.”

“Ooh…helping? See, I just offered to watch your cute butt in action…” Maggie deadpanned, cracking up only at the annoyed look on Alex’s face. “Yes, yes, of course I’ll help you. Finish lunch for me first?”

Alex nodded, stealing a few of the fries off of Maggie’s side while Maggie was distracted with her veggie burger.

They spent the rest of the afternoon hard at work together. Alex found herself falling into an easy rhythm with Maggie, their bodies moving in sync as Maggie seemed to keep up with the rapid, sometimes frenetic movements of Alex’s mind without her having to explain them. And Maggie, well, Maggie was just blown away by the speed with which Alex could correct course when something didn’t work, the way she pushed herself and drove herself to do better, to think outside of the box when her serum wasn’t improving.

This was exactly how Lucy found them late that afternoon when she dropped in to pick Alex up at the end of the day and let her know that the field mission had gone off without a hitch. But, once she got the news out, she was immediately distracted by the sight of her girlfriends standing side-by-side in matching white lab coats, their hair pulled back and safety goggles on. And sure, they looked nerdy as hell, but they also had complex formulas mapped out across the whiteboard—Maggie’s handwriting evidencing her presence and her assistance at points—and were grinning cockily at her, like they had just spent the day building something that might have impressed Marie Curie and Albert Einstein—and Lucy had no doubt it would have. And that image was enough to drive her a little bit crazy, to remind her of just how in love she was with those two nerds.

“Take off the coats and goggles, wash your hands, and meet me in the car in ten,” Lucy ordered, her voice low and commanding.

“But we’re making progress,” Alex whined, motioning at the board.

“You just admitted we were at a decent stopping point,” Maggie pointed out.

“For coffee,” Alex clarified, “not to leave.”

“What if I promise you something so much more energizing than coffee if you will get your asses out of those coats and back into our bed?” Lucy growled.

Maggie’s goggles and lab coat were put away before Alex could even come up with a counter-argument. But looking into the eyes of her two beautiful girlfriends, knowing that they were both looking at her like that because they thought she was smart, because they thought she was doing something worthwhile, because they thought that her lab work could be just as important as the way she wielded her gun, her knife, her bare hands—well, that helped spark something in her chest that was beginning to feel alive again, no matter how rare. And Alex wouldn’t give up a moment like that for anything.


	12. Angst in the Medbay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the first chapter of new material! I combined a couple of prompts for this longer piece.
> 
> Prompt 1: Can you write some director sanvers hurt/comfort, centered around alex? I dont have anything specific in mind i've just been craving some director sanvers and hurt/comfort lol
> 
> Prompt 2: Director Sanvers for #29. “I thought you were dead.” 
> 
> Prompt 3: One word prompt for director sanvers (preferably angst hehe): Hospital
> 
> A/N: Ah, it seems my tendency to turn what could be angsty word/quote prompts into something light has been found out and preempted this time! If angst is what you want, angst is what you shall get…  
> Though, ya know, it's me...so you're still getting a happy ending.

Alex didn’t do sick days. She had expectations to (fail to) meet, a sister to save, and a planet to protect. Sick days were simply a luxury she couldn’t afford. So she did all that she could to avoid getting sick in the first place—keeping her distance from anyone who seemed particularly germy, taking her vitamins, getting plenty of exercise and sometimes enough sleep. And when that wasn’t enough, she powered through. She brushed aside colds and sinus infections, tossing back decongestants and cough suppressants until she could function properly. She ignored flus and fevers with advil and orange juice. When she absolutely couldn’t avoid it, she would get herself antibiotics and ignore the instructions about staying home to rest for at least 48 hours.

So when she woke up, feverish and dizzy and so very cold, she thought nothing of grabbing two advil and following them up with a large glass of water and a piece of toast—all she could stomach. She threw on her warmest hoodie—one Kara had picked up for her back at Stanford—even though it was sunny and warm outside, and she dragged herself down to the DEO before Maggie and Lucy could get up and insist that she stay in bed. After all, they had a new alien in containment, and the tests weren’t going to run themselves. She’d been part of the mission yesterday to subdue and contain him, and she knew exactly what he was capable of, knew that they needed to find out any information about him as soon as possible. It had been quite some time since an alien out there was strong enough to nearly blow out Kara’s powers, and this one had come damn close—too close for Alex’s liking. Alex assumed that, like her sister, she was just feeling the exhaustion, the deep-seated fatigue that had crept into her muscles and joints after they finally got back.

Alex trudged through the front doors and made her way back to her lab, grateful that it was too early for anyone to try to engage her in conversation. When she got in, she basically collapsed into her chair, letting her bag fall to the floor as she dropped her head into her hands. She just needed a couple of minutes for everything to kick in, she reasoned, then she’d be fine.

\---

Lucy was disappointed, though unsurprised, to find that Alex had already taken off for work by the time she woke up. It was so like her to drag herself out of bed at the crack of dawn whenever Kara came even close to getting hurt. She was just glad that Alex hadn’t seemed too distraught this time, hadn’t seemed to be blaming herself for Kara’s injuries (at least not yet).

“Wake up,” Lucy rasped, her voice gravelly and thick with sleep.

“Wha—?” Maggie startled, cracking one eye open.

“Alex is already gone, and I don’t want to eat breakfast alone.”

“You know Thursdays I get to go in an hour late, right?”

“Yeah…but I also know you love me,” Lucy added with a wide grin.

“Not right now,” Maggie grumbled.

“That’s fake news. I’m gonna go put some eggs on for both of us. I expect to see your shining face in the kitchen soon!”

Maggie continued whining even as she dragged herself out of bed and to the bathroom, then finally stumbled into the kitchen at the smell of toast and eggs cooking. “Smells good.”

“That’s because I’m cooking,” Lucy snarked.

“Excuse me, my cooking smells amazing.”

“Not when you do breakfast, Ms. ‘double-toasted, dry bagels are the best thing ever!’”

“They’re so crunchy.”

“Crunchy isn’t a flavor.”

“Agree to disagree,” Maggie hummed, finally getting her first mug of coffee.

“Did you happen to notice when Alex left?” Lucy asked, not bothering to engage anymore in the great bagel debate.

Maggie shook her head. “After those last couple nights of overtime, I think I was dead to the world,” she laughed.

“Yeah, I was pretty tired too. Normally she just says something before she leaves.”

“Eh, didn’t she say there was a new alien in containment?”

“Yeah,” Lucy conceded.

“Then you know her; of course she had to be the first one in today to run all of her tests and make sure he wasn’t going to pose some threat to Kara.”

“I know, I know. You know I worry.”

“We all worry about each other, but I’m sure she’s fine,” Maggie reassured Lucy, kissing her forehead. Lucy seemed to relax a little until she caught sight of the time and began rushing to get ready for work.

\---

Once Lucy was settled in at her desk down at the desert base, where she still spent half of her days, she sent a quick text to Alex just asking her to let her know that she was okay, but she knew J’onn would have called her if anything happened, so she didn’t let it worry her too much.

As the morning wore on, Lucy found herself in back-to-back meetings and briefings. It wasn’t until lunch that she had a moment to breathe and catch up on texts and emails. It was then that she found one from Maggie: “Supergirl was caught on camera falling out of the sky today. Any updates?”

“Fuck,” Lucy murmured, grabbing her phone and quickly punching in J’onn’s number.

“Director Lane?” he answered.

“I just saw the news about Supergirl. Is she okay?”

“She is…” J’onn hesitated. “She’s recovering in the sunbeds. Apparently that alien she went up against yesterday was quite toxic to the touch, even to Kryptonians.”

“Fuck,” Lucy muttered. “But she’ll be okay?”

“Luckily her cells still regenerate quite rapidly, so she will be. She’ll need a lot of rest and time in the sunbed, but she’ll get there.”

“Okay,” Lucy sighed. “Did any of the other agents come into contact with the alien?”

“We’re reviewing the footage, but everyone who checked in with medical before they left said that they were firing from a distance.”

“Did, uh, did Alex check in with medical?” Lucy asked, a sinking feeling in her gut. She knew Alex, suspected that she would have been by Kara’s side, rather than getting herself checked out. She just hoped that her girlfriend hadn’t touched the alien.

J’onn flipped through the report, which had just gotten to him a few minutes before Lucy called. “No, she did not. Did she seem okay this morning? Supergirl woke up quite ill and was rushed here after falling on her way in, so we suspect it’s fast-acting.”

“I don’t know,” Lucy admitted. “She was gone before I woke up. Has she not checked in?”

“Lucy, let me call you back.” And then J’onn was off, making his way down to Alex’s lab as quickly as he could without creating panic in the DEO that would interfere with his ability to get to his agent, friend, daughter, to see how she was, make sure everything was okay.

When he first got into Alex’s lab, he was surprised to find it empty, but then he noticed the bag on the desk, the bottle of water, the open reports on the computer. “Agent Danvers?” he called out, striding further into the room. “Alex?” As he came around her desk to see if she had left any kind of note to indicate where he went, he froze, finding Alex crumpled on the floor by her chair, her skin a ghostly white, a light sheen of sweat visible on her forehead.

Remembering what the doctors had said about how contagious the toxins were, J’onn hit the lab’s emergency button, then dialed the med team from his phone, barking orders as he demanded help immediately.

Within moments, doctors clad in full hazmat suits came rushing into Alex’s lab, scooping up the woman’s limp body and rushing her up to the containment ward they’d set up in the lab this morning for Supergirl.

“Update me as soon as you have something,” J’onn insisted, trying not to let his worry show. But he couldn’t help listening to the doctors’ thoughts, couldn’t help hearing their own fears, their own ability to see that Alex was barely breathing, to feel that she was cold to the touch.

When he got back to his office, he had five missed calls from Lucy. Bracing himself, drawing on some reservoir of strength, some place of authority that wasn’t blinded by his anxiety about his unofficial daughter’s health, J’onn returned her call.

“J’onn! What’s going on?” Lucy snapped, knowing that her anger was misplaced but not caring enough to change it.

“She is with medical now. It appears that she did come into contact with the alien, but they have her set up and are treating her as best they can.”

“As best they can isn’t good enough. I want the top doctors in the country in for her. Now.”

“These are the best doctors the country has for treating alien-related contagions,” J’onn explained, trying to reassure his co-director.

“I’m coming down there,” Lucy huffed.

“You won’t be able to see her just yet. It’s highly contagious. I wasn’t even allowed to touch her. She’s in the containment ward they’ve set up in the med bay.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m still coming down there.”

“I’ll be here for you when you do,” J’onn replied, his voice soft. “And Lucy?” She didn’t answer, but she also didn’t hang up. “She’s a fighter. She’ll pull through.”

\---

Lucy stopped by the precinct on her way to the DEO to pick up Maggie, who had told her captain she’d need all afternoon and the following day off as soon as she heard the news. They drove to the DEO in silence, both of them too anxious, too panicked, to want to hear the other’s thoughts, to want to have to reassure someone else when they couldn’t yet do it for themselves. It would be better once they could see her, once they could watch the heartrate monitors and track her oxygen levels and have visible, tangible proof that she was alive, that she was a fighter, that she would pull through.

Except that wasn’t quite what they found. Because their perfect, strong, brave Alex was hooked up to too many tubes and wires. The lines on her charts were far too unstable, erratic, weak. Her heartbeat wasn’t the steady thrum they had expected. Her oxygen levels kept falling, even with the tubes feeding her a steady stream of air. And worst of all, they were kept on the other side of thick glass, kept away from her.

“What are you doing for her?” Lucy snapped at the first doctor she saw, who started then stumbled at her tone, stammering out that they were doing everything they could.

“Hey, c’mon,” Maggie nudged Lucy, threading her fingers into her hand and dragging her back to the chairs that had been set up for them. “They’re doing what they can.” She didn’t add that she wanted to snap too, wanted to demand answers and proof of results. “Plus, we want them to keep working on her not spend their time talking to us.”  
“Yeah, I know,” Lucy conceded, fighting back tears. “I just, what if it’s not enough? What if they can’t help her?”

“Then they’ll have hell to pay from everyone around here. Think about how much good Alex does. No one is going to let her…get sick without a fight.” Maggie refused to let herself say, let alone think about, something worse, even though the sight of Alex stretched out on the hospital bed was pushing those nightmares to the front of her mind, was making her think back to finding Alex’s body floating in the tank. Only that time, that time Alex had some say, had been able to fight for herself. Now, what could she fight? Toxins? They didn’t have some obvious physical manifestation to punch, to pull a gun on, to fight her way through. All they could do was…wait.

And they did. They waited. They watched. They listened to doctors. They heard the words about a medically-induced coma being good for her, being progress, rather than what it looked like—like their girlfriend lying comatose on a stretcher. They sat with J’onn and Winn and James as they came by for shifts after work. They comforted Kara when she was finally healed enough to be up and out of the sunbed. They held Eliza’s hands when she flew in from Midvale to wait for her daughter to wake up. They listened to Kal-El’s reports on the toxin gleaned from the research he had done up at the Fortress of Solitude. They scribbled notes, catching as much of the technical medical jargon as they could. But most of all, they waited.

Over a week later, they got the news that the doctors were going to try waking her up. She had responded well to the antidote they’d created with Eliza’s help, but they also knew leaving her out too much longer could have negative effects. So slowly, steadily, they brought her back, switching out her IVs and forcing everyone to stay back, to continue to stay behind the glass until they could run tests.

Hours and hours—maybe even days, time didn’t really process as well after too many days spent in a windowless room—later, the doctors and Eliza came out and told Alex and Maggie that they could see her. That she was weak and tired, but no longer contagious, no longer unconscious.

“Hi, baby,” Maggie whispered, tears shining in her eyes at the sight of Alex finally awake.

“How are you, Alex?” Lucy asked, her voice soft as if she were scared of breaking the moment, as if all of the progress Alex had made might crumble away.

“I sort of feel like I got hit by a truck,” Alex answered, her voice scratchy and rough from so many days of disuse, but she tried her best attempt at a grin.

“Well, we’re gonna make sure everything is so comfortable for your return home,” Lucy promised her, sitting down on the other side of the bed from Maggie as they both took a hand, feeling Alex’s pulse, her warmth, all the signs they had craved to say that she was alive. 

“Yeah, I’ll get all of your favorite teas and snacks. And we’ll marathon your favorite movies in bed together, alright?” Maggie added, running her fingers lightly, almost reverently, up and down Alex’s forearm, carefully avoiding the IVs. 

“Okay,” Alex nodded. “Do you guys need to go to work, though?”

“Danvers,” Maggie leveled a critical gaze at Alex. “Do you really think we’re gonna leave you home alone after all of this?”

“The answer is: absolutely not,” Lucy supplied. “It’ll be like a 24/7 pajama party in our apartment with all of the making out and none of the pillow fighting.”

Alex laughed, cringing at the pain that seemed to radiate through her whole body at the movement. 

“Well, now that we’ve got you laughing, I guess we should probably let everyone else take their turn seeing you too,” Lucy shrugged, not really wanting to leave Alex’s side just yet. 

“But you’ll come back for me?”

“Of course, Alex,” Maggie promised, leaning over and pressing the softest of kisses to Alex’s cracked, dry lips. “We’ll be right outside. You can even wave to us through the window.” After a moment, she added: “Don’t. I mean, I imagine it would hurt your arms.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex conceded, turning slightly into Lucy’s equally gentle kiss. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Just focus on getting better, Alex,” Lucy instructed on their way out the door.

\---

After many days of watching movies and eating snacks and letting her body heal, Alex was feeling restless. Sure, she was now allowed on longer walks, as long as she had supervision, and she was allowed to stretch and do gentle exercises, but she had been told she needed to wait longer before getting into even moderate-intensity exercises. Feeling better, though, Alex didn’t quite understand the reason for all of the restrictions. Which is exactly why Lucy and Maggie, just back from a trip out to pick up groceries, found Alex on the floor doing pushups and planks. 

“What the hell, Danvers?” Maggie gasped.

Before Alex could answer, Lucy snapped, “Get your ass back in bed!” 

“I need to get myself back to normal,” Alex whined, pulling herself back up to her feet and trying not to show just how dizzy the quick action had made her.

“You do it on the timetable your doctors have set for you,” Lucy insisted, “and not a minute earlier.” 

“It wasn’t like I left the apartment,” Alex grumbled, so sick of having to stay in bed all day, having to be pent up in the apartment, feeling increasingly useless. 

“I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses!” Lucy yelled, throwing her bags of groceries onto the table and storming off to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her and pressing the lock. 

Seeing the look of confusion and fear on Alex’s face, Maggie came over and wrapped her arms around Alex, guiding her back to the bedroom. “Hey, it’s okay,” she whispered.

“I just…I didn’t, I mean, I was just doing a little bit of exercise,” Alex explained, sniffling and trying not to cry. “I didn’t think she’d be so mad at me.”

“She’s not…she’s not mad, okay? She’s scared. We both are. I mean, obviously you don’t remember but…J’onn, he found you cold to the touch and completely unconscious on the floor of your lab. You were out for days. We didn’t, I mean, the doctors, they just,” Maggie stammered, trying to find the words to explain the fear, to tell the woman she loved the things she wouldn’t even let herself voice in her head. “We hoped, hoped so much, Alex, that you were going to pull through. We didn’t want to believe that there would be a world where you wouldn’t. But the doctors…you weren’t responding to treatment for a long time. And for a very scary few minutes, you just…your vitals basically stopped. Everything. Lucy, she’s scared because, well, because she thought you were dead. Fuck, Danvers, I thought you were dead. I wouldn’t admit it, of course, because that might make it true. But god, we were so scared, Alex. So maybe we’re being a little extreme in how much we’re forcing you to stay in bed. But you have to know that it comes from a place of love and a place of fear and despair that’s just barely been quashed.”

Alex took deep steadying breaths. Theoretically, she understood that it had been touch and go for a while; she had seen her own charts. But she didn’t let herself dwell on what that could have meant, and she certainly hadn’t given in to the temptation to think about what the people she loved would have done if things hadn’t worked out. “Shit, Maggie, I’m sorry,” Alex mumbled, wiping away tears with the corner of her sleeve. “I just, I mean, I sort of know how close to dead I was too, which is exactly why I’ve wanted to push myself—to prove that I’m still here, you know? I can still do things.”

“Yeah, well, maybe in the future you push yourself when we’re around,” Lucy suggested from the doorway, her face blotchy and her eyes rimmed in red. 

“Yeah, I, uh, I think I can do that. I’m sorry, Lucy. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know you didn’t mean to, Alex. And I know, I know that it’s part of the job. But I can’t lose you—either of you.”

“I know,” Alex nodded. “How about we do that spaghetti Maggie promised us and curl up with a movie? Maybe one of you two even gets to choose this time?”

“I think that sounds good,” Lucy nodded, her mouth twitching up as she held her arms open for Alex, who quickly strode across the room and flung herself into Lucy’s chest, holding the woman close to her, letting her feel how solid she still was, how very much alive and here she still was. 

“Not to break up this charming moment, but I could use a few hands in the kitchen,” Maggie called out on her way from the bedroom to the kitchen.

“Yes, yes, here we come,” Alex yelled back, dragging Lucy by the hand to the kitchen, glad to be up and out of bed and with two of her favorite people.


	13. Learning to Share

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for Director Sanvers: can we have a story about the girls learning how to all share a bed? I can imagine Alex’s early runs could cause some issues haha
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: Because my girlfriend is extra af and submitted an anon ask on Tumblr so that I would finally get around to writing her prompt…here’s some fluffy, domestic Director Sanvers to sweeten your morning!

Maggie and Alex were convinced that asking Lucy to move in with them was one of the best decisions they’d ever made. Sure, dating had worked even with Lucy living half an hour away, but things felt less lopsided, more equal, when they were all together, when they could wake up to the sound of two sets of feet padding around in the kitchen or go to bed with two warm bodies curled up next to each other without having to set an early alarm for Lucy to make it back to her place on time for work. Alex loved getting home to find Lucy and Maggie cooking together, and Maggie was grateful to know that Lucy could drag Alex out of the lab and straight home to their apartment when she got a little too engrossed in an experiment, and Lucy loved the constant reassurances that they were all together, not a couple plus her.

But sleeping together—actually sleeping—was less ideal than they had hoped. On the nights when it had happened before, after a long night spent in bed doing things distinctly more active than sleeping, they hadn’t worried. They were always exhausted and wanted nothing more than to cuddle up and sleep in as late as their schedules allowed. But now…now they were falling into their routines together, letting the dust settle after weeks spent too enamored with the newness to notice where small issues might arise. And one of those issues was sleeping.

First it was simply a question of where they would all sleep. Alex’s California king certainly accommodated them, but Maggie and Lucy were both poised for a fight about who would take the middle spot. After all, they’d both spent their whole lives as the smallest, as the ones relegated to middle seats in airplanes and cars, and they’d be damned if they were going to get crammed into the middle one more time. But Alex had solved that issue by volunteering. Because Alex loved being held by her girls, loved being able to wake up from a nightmare and feel immediately that they were both still there, both still breathing, both still alive. And that knowledge helped convince her that her dreams were just that—dreams—that she didn’t need to transform from soft girlfriend Alex to hardened soldier Alex, that she could let the soft sounds of Lucy and Maggie sleeping lull her back into a sense of security.

At first it had seemed like the crisis was averted. Until the third day in a row when Alex woke both Lucy and Maggie as she crawled out from the middle of the bed to go on a long run at what Lucy so eloquently termed the “ass crack of dawn.” When she got back, both of her girlfriends were sitting at the table waiting for her.

“Hey!” Alex beamed, looking far too energetic for the sheer number of miles they knew she just ran.

“Good morning,” Maggie grumbled from over a large mug of coffee.

“Except it’s not! Because it’s barely 7, and I’ve been awake for over an hour, Danvers,” Lucy cut right to the chase.

“Oh…why?” Alex asked. “I didn’t expect you two to get up just because I did.”

“But we sort of have to,” Maggie explained, only to have Lucy cut in once more.

“Because you pull the covers off of both of us then inevitably end up kneeling on one of us as you clamber out of bed every morning.”

Alex looked slightly apologetic, though not enough to stop her from going on morning runs. “I mean, I guess I can try getting a slightly later start. Or I suppose one of you could take the middle position.”

“Let’s not be hasty,” Maggie quickly interjected. “Now that you know about it, let’s see if maybe you can be a little more careful of stray limbs, and Lucy and I can make more of an effort to fall back asleep afterward.

It didn’t really work. Alex did a better job of not accidentally kneeling on Maggie and Lucy, but she found there was no good way to get out of the blankets without causing a disturbance. But soon enough they started finding other issues. Like how Maggie made fun of Alex and Lucy for wanting to sleep with blankets when the first autumn breezes began cooling the air and insisted that they try to keep going with just the sheet until California’s approximation of “real winter” arrived. Or when Lucy insisted on going to bed bundled in multiple blankets only to kick them off of everyone in the middle of the night, leaving Alex shivering.

Which is how, after a very long month and some very groggy, very cranky mornings, the ladies found themselves a solution. Now when they went to bed, they each pulled out their own blankets—Maggie’s a lightweight plaid throw that she’d had since college; Alex’s a fleece blanket with the Stanford logo that Kara bought her when she finished grad school; and Lucy’s a whole pile of fluffy blankets that she’d shed overnight, eventually making it down to just one layer. Sure, it looked like they were having a slumber party every night, and it made cuddling a little more difficult, but they found that not being woken up all night every night was well worth the price.


	14. Ice Skating Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarcasticallyinspired: Can I give you a Director Sanvers prompt? Ice skating, which is usually "one can't skate, so the other teachers them how" but in this case its two can skate and one is faking not being able to and dramatically reveals badass skating skills all of a sudden??!!! Pretty please?!!?
> 
> Plus a few prompts for fluff and random Director Sanvers dates 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Rather early on in their relationship, many months before Lucy would come to join their little makeshift family as a partner, Maggie made an offhand remark about how she’d love to take Alex ice-skating one day, especially out somewhere with real winters where they could skate on a frozen pond or lake without the hordes of tourists and the hourly ice cleaning when everyone had to leave the rink. Still new to dating women, still new to having a partner who wanted to hear every amazing thing she was already capable of, who didn’t want her to diminish her own accomplishments to make them feel better, capable of teaching her something, Alex had shrugged: “Yeah, that could be fun. You could teach me.”

“Ah, California girls,” Maggie had laughed, shaking her head. “But I’m happy to teach you! I played ice hockey and got free rink time by volunteering to help teach the little guys on weekends.”

“Are you comparing me and my skills to a small child?” Alex huffed in a tone of mock indignation.

“Nah, I’ll wait til you’re on your butt on the ice,” Maggie teased back.

And that had been that. For quite some time actually. The few times talk of ice-skating had resurfaced, Alex had stayed quiet. Sure, at this point she understood that she’d been foolish to think Maggie would rather teach her and guide her thank skate right beside her, but now she felt equally embarrassed to admit that she knew how to skate, had spent hours with Kara racing around the rink—one of the few places where Alex could win a race against her superpowered little sister, who knew that using her powers could splinter the ice and ruin it for everyone. So she let it be.

And when it came up with Lucy and Lucy had squealed about how much fun it would be to get back out there, how she’d taken figure skating classes and really missed being on the ice, Alex had felt a pang of jealousy at the easy way Lucy could talk about the things she could do (and do well), but mainly she was happy for Lucy. Until she suggested that they all go ice-skating together—and not in the abstract way Maggie had once discussed, but in a very real “I know the owner of that smaller rink downtown and could probably get him to let us in afterhours…no, not like that, Danvers…but maybe” kind of way.

Which is how Alex found herself bundled up at the rink at 10 at night on a weeknight pretending like she could barely lace up her own skates, let alone get herself around the rink. Lucy came bounding over after spending a few minutes talking to Therese, the owner and a friend of hers from back in her figure skating days. She looked extraordinarily proud of herself for convincing her to put on the music for them.

“Want a hand?” she asked, looking at Alex.

“Oh, um, sure? I think I got them…” Alex mumbled.

Lucy shrugged and quickly got down to check them, pulling them a little tighter but otherwise looking proud of Alex for figuring it out so quickly.

“Ready to get out on the ice?” Maggie asked, having been waiting impatiently by the gate for what felt like hours now.

“Yes!” Lucy squealed as she pulled on her gloves, offering a hand out to steady Alex. “Look at you! Already balancing on your own!”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Alex nodded. “Um, but maybe I take your hand in case?”

“Sounds good,” Lucy said with a grin, reaching out a gloved hand to pull Alex with her. Once they got to the ring, Lucy and Maggie offered to take Alex around with them—one girlfriend on each side—and Alex promptly agreed.

“Hold on tight, Danvers,” Maggie added with a wink as she set a somewhat brisk pace, making sure Lucy was down to keep up. As they made their way around, Alex let herself put some effort in, figuring it was probably only natural that someone would begin to feel the movements at this point.

“You’re doing great,” Maggie commented to Alex. “I mean, you’re barely even holding my hand. No one would guess you’re new to this!”

“Thanks,” Alex mumbled, trying to keep her voice low enough that Lucy, who was pretty lost in the music, wouldn’t hear. “I think I’m just relying on Lucy…”

“Ah, yeah, I guess she’s a better hand holder,” Maggie teased.

Alex made a noncommittal noise and turned to Lucy, hoping Maggie would stop asking questions.

“How’s it going?” Lucy asked, noting Alex’s eyes on her.

“Oh, um, good,” Alex answered.

“You’re doing so well! It’s like I’m not even having to drag you around. You should’ve seen James the first time I dragged him out,” Lucy laughed. “God, it was like pulling dead weight.”

“Ah, hm, yep,” Alex nodded, resolving to look straight ahead until they started challenging her to go on her own and she could be a bit more free without worrying about them feeling the lack of a tight grip or the distinctly stable balance.

“Know what we should teach her?” Lucy called over to Maggie, a grin that was far from innocent on her face.

“What’s that?” Maggie yelled back.

“How to fall,” Lucy cackled, remembering when Lois had “helped” her get over her fear of falling by speeding up then letting her go, at which point she promptly sped into the guard rail and landed on her ass.

They both tightened their grip on Alex’s hands and dragged her forward, speeding up as they flew down the long stretch before letting go of Alex as they both came to a halt, panting and trying to catch their breath as they laughed.

Only, Alex didn’t fall. Alex made a sharp, clean turn and spun back around to face them. “Rude!”

Lucy and Maggie just blinked back at her. “How…?” Maggie asked.

“Did you take lessons in anticipation of this date?” Lucy asked.

Alex laughed and shook her head. “No… Moment of honesty: I know how to ice-skate. I have known. For years. I’m actually quite good at it.”

“Why’d you tell me you’d never been?” Maggie asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked at Alex.

“I don’t know!” Alex admitted. “We had just gotten together, and I really wanted you to like me, and I remembered all the guys back in high school and college who would feel so great if they thought they could teach me something,” Alex rambled, waving circles in the air with her hands.

Maggie gave Alex a look—the same look she gave her after Alex “came” very loudly within mere minutes on a night when Maggie had mentioned that she was tired but still wanted to make time for Alex. “You know I’d have been just as happy to race you on a rink, right? I don’t need you to make yourself sound incapable just to make me feel better about myself.”

“I know! Now… But then I wasn’t sure. It was all very new, and I was trying so hard.”

“Fair enough,” Maggie shrugged. “But to make it up to me, I think you know what you need to do…”

“Three laps around the rink! I’ll call the winner!” Lucy yelled, watching as Alex and Maggie both took off, turning into a blur as they skated by in fast laps.

As they made their way back to Lucy on the third lap, Alex was in the lead by just a pace or two, and began whooping loudly as she rounded the last bend. But suddenly Maggie was reaching out and nudging her, causing Alex to wobble and skid sideways before she could right herself, just in time to watch Maggie zooming past Lucy.

“Not fair!” Alex yelled, skating up and pushing at Maggie.

“Oh, did I not mention…I know how to skate so well from playing ice hockey,” Maggie added with a grin. “A little pushing is totally allowed.”

With a quick look at Lucy, Alex nodded, and before Maggie could react or dodge, both of her girlfriends were shoving playfully at her until she lost her balance, landing hard on her butt and pouting up at them, whining about how chilly and wet her jeans were until they finally took pity on her and dragged her back up.

“That was so rude,” Maggie grumbled.

“It felt pretty right,” Lucy shrugged.

“Let’s call it my penalty shot,” Alex winked.

“That’s not even accurate,” Maggie whined, but Lucy and Alex were too busy giggling and skating off with calls about a race to the car and mugs of hot chocolate.


	15. Director Sanvers V Part 2 - Alex/Lucy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a follow up to Chapter 9 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/11602002/chapters/26080458) and probably won’t make sense if you’ve not read that first. As a reminder, here Alex is the hinge partner, and Maggie and Lucy are not dating, nor will they be (in fact, at this point they still barely know each other). This chapter is all about Alex and Lucy, though Maggie is mentioned. There’s talking and discussions and dating and some soft smut with feelings to round it all out!

Lucy paced around the DEO trying to figure out why Alex needed to see her in person again. Two nights ago had certainly not lived up to her expectations, and last night Alex had been completely MIA. Lucy assumed that Alex was making things right with Maggie. Which left her to assume that today would probably be about Alex putting some kind of space between them, putting back up the barriers that their long nights together—talking, drinking, cooking, and, yes, fucking—had slowly broken down.

By the time 6 o’clock rolled around, Lucy’s nerves were already frayed and her palms were sweaty and she wanted nothing more than for this night to be over already. Summoning up the last of her courage, she knocked on Alex’s door.

Alex flung open the door, greeting Lucy with a wide grin and a breathless, “Hey! Come on in!”

Feeling as though she had missed something, Lucy walked in slowly, wondering whether this was some sort of hostage situation, whether she should be radioing J’onn to point out that Alex Danvers was acting suspicious. But she went with it…for now. “Hey… What’s up?”

“Oh, um, maybe you come in first?” Alex asked, stumbling over her words slightly as she pulled at the slightly too-long sleeves of her sweater. She’d been so excited about the prospect of not having to lose one of the few other people she felt genuinely comfortable with, one of the few people with whom she was able to let down her guard all the way, to bare herself and let herself come undone in a way even most of the men she’d let take her to bed hadn’t seen. But now her nerves were catching up to her, reminding her that Lucy had been hurt, that Lucy might not be up for dating her or being with someone who was…poly, she had spent hours with Maggie talking about it, figuring out how it would work, learning to let the word roll of her tongue as she tested it, tried to see what it felt like. 

Lucy let herself be led further into the apartment, let Alex take her blazer and her bag, let Alex guide her over to the table, which was actually set for a change. It wasn’t that she had low expectations for Alex, per se, but she’d always been more of a takeout and booze kind of gal. When Alex pulled out a bag from Noonan’s, Lucy smiled. Sure, it was nicer than the greasy Chinese Alex and Kara too often binged on, but it wasn’t like Maggie had fundamentally changed Alex either. 

“I got your usual, hope that’s okay?” Alex asked, looking up at Lucy with those brown eyes that Lucy swore had some kind of magical way of making her soften at the edges.

“Yeah, that’s great,” Lucy nodded, helping Alex slide their food onto plates, then grabbing their glasses while Alex uncorked a bottle of Chianti. 

Once they were seated at the table, Lucy looked expectantly at Alex, waiting for her to reveal why she’d brought her over here. But Alex just smiled, looking almost…nervous? Lucy didn’t know why Alex would possibly be nervous; she was the one who knew what the hell was going on. 

After a while, Alex began talking, but only to ask Lucy about her day, find out how her girls’ night at Kara’s had gone the night before, conveniently not mentioning that it had only happened because Alex’s place seemed like it was no longer an option. 

Eventually Lucy had had enough. “Alex. As much fun as the chit-chat is, is it really the reason you had be come out here?”

“Oh, um, not really…” Alex mumbled. 

“Want to enlighten me, then?”

Alex picked at the sleeve of her sweater and pulled her lower lip between her teeth, letting her gaze fall anywhere but Lucy’s face as she began talking. “Well, uh, after you left yesterday morning, I, um, I went to go talk to Maggie.” Lucy nodded. She assumed as much. “Right, well, she talked to me about you, about us…what we were.”

“Mhm.”

“And she said some things about how, about how you look at me.” Lucy’s jaw clenched. She knew this was coming, knew that somehow she’d be the one pushed out. “And how I look at you.” That—that was different. Unexpected. “She said it seemed like we could make each other happy.”

“I don’t, no, Alex! I don’t want to ruin what you have with Maggie. It’s…it’s really obvious that she’s good for you.” And as much as it pained Lucy to say it, she knew it was true.

“Right, yeah, that’s what I thought was going on at first too,” Alex admitted. “But then Maggie kept talking to me, talking about how in the past she’s been in poly relationships, and at first I thought it sounded a lot like I’d be cheating on her with her knowledge, but then she walked me through it. And then we read a lot of things together. And then she answered a ton of questions. And then we talked some more,” Alex laughed. “If I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t know that it’ll work out. But it kind of seems worth it to try. If…I mean, if you might want to try…dating. Dating me, I mean.”

Lucy nodded, taking a bite of food to give herself time to think. “And Maggie is okay with this?”

“She is,” Alex nodded. “For now she’s just going to be seeing me, but we know that she’ll be open to talking to me if that ever changes.”

“And you want to date? Not just sleep together?”

“I mean…if you only want to sleep together, I guess that’s fine too. But if you’d still like to date, I feel badly for the way I treated you. Fuck, no. Sorry, this isn’t coming out right. It’s not, like, out of pity. I feel like shit because I wanted to say yes. Because being with you made me happy. But I said no because I still hadn’t let myself grapple with what dating a woman would mean. Because somehow sleeping with a woman felt way less complicated, like it was something I could dismiss once the right guy came around. But if I’d let you take me out to dinner and, I don’t know, romance me, it’d be real. Does that make sense?”

“It shouldn’t,” Lucy chuckled. “But it does.”

“Okay, yeah. So, uh, would you want to date me?”

“I think I might like to try.” Alex beamed. “But I still have some questions of a more practical variety.”

“Hit me,” Alex said, feeling significantly more confident now. 

“Do you expect me to be monogamous?” 

“Uh, no? That’d be a double standard, right?”

“Speaking in facts, yes. But I want to know how you would feel about it. Just because you’re in a poly relationship doesn’t mean that jealousy can’t or won’t be an issue.”

“Right, no, Maggie talked about that. But I think as long as we’re all really honest with each other, we can work through it. Like, I might be jealous at first, but I think Maggie said we would learn to ‘interrogate our emotions.’”

“You sound like such a lesbian, Danvers,” Lucy laughed. 

“Whatever,” Alex scoffed, taking a sip of her wine. “So if you don’t want to be monogamous, I think that’s fine. And are you okay with the fact that I’ll still be dating Maggie?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, I’m still going to be at the desert base, so it’s not like I’ll be around all the time. Hell, I’d probably feel guilty if I were your only girlfriend, leaving you alone for such long stretches of time.”

Alex smiled. “That sounds…really reasonable.”

“It’s been known to happen,” Lucy laughed. “But, given how important honesty and transparency are going to be moving forward, I should tell you that I’m sleeping with someone else. It’s not a relationship—she just got out of a long one that didn’t end on such great terms and really doesn’t want something serious for a while—but it’s been going on for about two months.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded, thinking it through, trying to gauge her own reaction to the news. She was pleasantly surprised to find that after the first pang of what felt like jealousy subsided, she was able to feel a lot more reasonable about it, even feel happy that Lucy had found someone these past few months. “Want to tell me who she is?”

Lucy colored slightly at that. “Uh, you, well, you know her…” Alex looked intrigued. “So you can’t go telling people. It’s not that we’re being overly secretive about it, but, you know how it is.”

“Yeah, of course,” Alex agreed, wracking her brains as she tried to think of the out women she knew (or had realized were gay since coming out). 

“It’s Vasquez,” Lucy added, smiling at the moment of shock that was soon replaced by a knowing grin on Alex’s face. 

“Very nice. How’s that been?”

“It’s good. Different than what we had.”

“Because she’s super out and proud, while I was a huge closet case?”

“Little bit,” Lucy chuckled. “But she’s also…she’s different out of the DEO. Sort of soft? Really into music and nature and camping.”

“Oh my god. Did Lucy Lane get dragged out camping? Into the wilderness?”

Lucy scowled at Alex. “I’ll have you know, I served my tours and did just fine.”

“But that was for work. I’ve never known you to voluntarily set foot in the woods.”

“Well, duh, you spend however many years in barracks with conditions that were questionable at best and tell me how much you want to pay for the privilege of doing it again.”

“Fair enough,” Alex laughed. “So do you camp?”

“No,” Lucy shook her head. “But I did go down to this little lakehouse her family owns. It was…rustic.”

“Mm, I bet.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me,” Alex challenged, her eyes flashing with an unspoken flirtatiousness.

And then Lucy was up and out of her chair, leaning across the table. “You sure?”

“Absolutely,” Alex breathed out, sighing as Lucy’s lips finally found hers. For all the challenge and the daring, the kiss was soft, like they were finding each other after too many months apart, rather than crashing together without care for the consequences like they once had. 

But after this many months apart, Lucy didn’t want the barrier of a table, didn’t want to have to watch out for the wine glasses and food, didn’t want to be too far away to properly hold Alex. So she reluctantly pulled away, drawing Alex with her as she led them to Alex’s couch. “This okay?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered. “Quick question! Sorry for, I don’t know, ruining the mood…especially if we’re maybe not going there. But have you been tested? Maggie and I both have recently. We’re both clean.”

Lucy smiled. “Don’t apologize; it’s good to ask. But Vasquez and I have only been with each other, and we both got tested too. Both clean.”

“Okay, good.” And then Alex was drawing Lucy down, pulling Lucy into her lap, letting her hands find the soft skin of Lucy’s hips, getting reacquainted the press of hands and lips that had once felt so familiar. She sighed as Lucy’s hands tangled in her hair.

“You’ve let it go curly,” Lucy whispered, pulling back for a moment to consider the change.

“Do you—is it okay?”

“It’s perfect, Danvers. You always look good.”

“Yours is a little longer,” Alex noted, running her fingers through the loose waves that now cascaded down to Lucy’s shoulders. “I like it.”

Lucy let out a low noise of contentment as Alex’s lips found their way to her neck, falling back into an easy rhythm, though her lips were soft and gentle, lacking the teeth that had once nipped desperately at her, marking her despite knowing they’d both spend the morning covering it all up, hiding any evidence of their trysts from the world. 

Alex groaned as Lucy’s hips rolled into hers, feeling Lucy’s hands slipping under her sweater, running across her sides and scratching down her abs. “Still fit as ever,” Lucy chuckled.

“Could say the same about you,” Alex murmured, pulling Lucy’s earlobe between her teeth and drawing a low moan from Lucy. 

“Can this come off?” Lucy asked, tugging gently on the hem of Alex’s sweater. 

“Yeah. Yours?”

Lucy nodded, carefully pulling Alex’s over her head, then watching as Alex deftly undid the buttons of her blouse, letting it fall off her shoulders and onto the floor. With a look and a nod from Lucy, Alex reached behind and unclasped Lucy’s bra, waiting as Lucy did the same for her. For a moment, they just sat together, taking in the sight of skin and bodies they had missed, letting their hands trace over old scars and new ones, flitting across hardened muscle and soft curves. 

Lucy’s fingers hovered over the thin white line on Alex’s upper arm. She’d heard the story, knew exactly when this had happened, had been on her motorcycle to National City as soon as she heard the news, just to look in and see that Alex was okay, to watch the monitors and reassure herself that Alex had survived, even if they weren’t speaking, had barely exchanged letters over the past few months. She’d left before Kara could recognize her heartbeat. That wasn’t the time for those conversations. 

As if sensing the heaviness of the moment, Alex carefully cupped Lucy’s face in her hands and drew her close, kissing her softly, then running her tongue across Lucy’s lower lip as they slowly deepened the kiss. “I’ve missed this.”

“It was never like this,” Lucy admitted, shaking her head. Sure, they’d had nights that felt like this might have been a possibility, but the softness was always chased away by nips that felt more like bites, scratches that left angry red marks down backs and thighs, fingers digging into hips hard enough to bruise.

Alex seemed to consider it as Lucy bent down to kiss across her chest, sucking and licking at her breasts in a way that Alex had to admit was different—amazing in its own way, but different. 

“In the spirit of making things different,” Alex began, pulling back slightly even though it pained her to do so, “should we stop at this?”

Lucy tilted her head to the side before shaking it. “Not unless you don’t want to. Personally, I think we’ve had a nice dinner date, and I’d like to take my date to bed if that works for her.”

By way of an answer, Alex simply stood up, scooping her hands under Lucy’s ass to carry her to the bedroom, feeling Lucy kicking off her heels as they walked. Carefully, she placed Lucy down in the center of the mattress, holding herself above the woman and taking her own turn to relearn the swell of Lucy’s chest, to feel the muscles flex and relax under heated kisses.

But as Lucy’s hips bucked up into her touches, Alex couldn’t ignore the dull throbbing between her own legs any longer. “Can these come off?” Alex rasped.

“Please,” Lucy panted, lifting her hips to help Alex get them off even sooner. And then she was pushing Alex’s own tight jeans over her ass and down her legs, waiting impatiently as Alex kicked them the rest of the way off, finally coming back up to rest between Lucy’s legs. 

As soon as Alex was back up, Lucy flipped them over, grinning at the expression of surprise that flitted across Alex’s face at the change. But the grin quickly changed into an open-mouthed sigh as Lucy’s fingers found their way between Alex’s legs, gathering wetness and moving up and across her clit. 

“Fuck, you feel so good,” Alex sighed. And for a moment, she paused. Panicked. Felt a pang of guilt for wanting this with another woman, for feeling this good when someone other than Maggie was touching her. But then she let Maggie’s reassurances wash over her, let Lucy’s gentle kisses remind her that this wasn’t some illicit affair carried out in hotel rooms and seedy bars; this was okay; this was allowed. 

As soon as she gave herself permission to enjoy it, Alex realized just how embarrassingly close she already was, just how quickly her body had responded to Lucy’s familiar fingers, to the way the smaller woman remembered just what she liked, just how she needed to be touched. And then she was falling over the edge, clutching at Lucy as her whole body trembled.

“You’re still just as sexy when you come,” Lucy purred, letting herself drop lower, settling on Alex’s thigh, letting the woman feel just how wet she’d made Lucy. Alex grinned at the feeling, moving her hands up to hold Lucy’s hips, encouraging her to grind against her. 

With Alex’s hands on her hips and chest and ass, roaming across heated, sensitive skin, caressing and pinching and scratching just the way Lucy had once taught her, Lucy came with a low groan and a shudder, letting Alex’s strong arms pull her down and hold her against her chest until she had caught her breath. 

“Can I just hold you for a few minutes?” Alex asked. Lucy nodded, curling herself into Alex’s chest and sighing contentedly as Alex’s fingers ran through her hair, pushing it back and out of her face. 

“This is different,” Lucy noted, her voice soft.

“Different in a good way?”

“Definitely.”


	16. Coming Out to General Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from bonsai-maggie-sawyer: So... yesterday I was trying to draw Marines!Alex for my fanfic (I'm translating the first chapter into English, I'm going to publish it on ao3) and I used Lucy in her dress uniform as a reference. So, I was thinking, can you write about General Lane finding out about Director Sanvers? Maybe Lucy can face him and later she can breakdown with Sanvers or something else. We all know he's an asshole.
> 
>  
> 
> CW for homophobia and general assholery. Also, I tried to humanize Gen. Lane just a bit in order to show why Lucy would care at all about telling him. Don’t worry, though, there’s no justifying bigotry.

Drumming her fingers against the wooden tabletop, Lucy tried to remember why she had agreed to this dinner, why, when her homophobic, xenophobic, controlling father had called, she’d said yes, of course she’d like to have dinner with him. Deep down she knew it was because there was still a small part of her that wanted him to approve of her, to treat her the way he did on the day she enlisted or the day she got into law school or the day she received her JD. But the things that made him proudest were always the things most similar to his own life, his own experiences. Everything else was, at best, something he’d ignore. It was as though he’d taken “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell” as a mantra for his daughter’s entire life. And hell, that was how he treated Lucy, his favorite. Lois might as well not have existed for the amount of attention he showed to her. 

At least they were in public, she reasoned. He could get angry and tell her he was disappointed in her and her choices, but he couldn’t scream—wouldn’t “embarrass” the uniform like that. Not like Lucy had. 

“Lucy,” he nodded as he strode through the rows of tables, posture impeccable and uniform crisply tailored. 

Lucy stood to greet him before sitting back at the table. “How was your trip in to National City?”

She zoned out slightly as he answered, responding in kind and asking other general, vague questions until the waiter came to take their order. She suspected they could do this all night, that she could make it through this dinner with nothing but formalities. They could talk of the weather and traffic. She could nod politely at his gruff rants about the state of politics these days. She could listen as he talked about life at the base and tried to talk her into leaving the DEO again. But she also knew that she’d be disappointed in herself if she said nothing. Because as much as a part of her still craved his approval, a much bigger part wanted to be able to own her own life, to tell someone like her father and not care whether or not he approved, not care if he gave her his blessing in a way he never had with James. 

So halfway through her dinner, during a long lull in a conversation made up of pleasantries about the food and wine, she cleared her throat. “Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“I wanted to talk to you about some people in my life.”

“Someone causing you trouble?” Sam asked.

Lucy froze. Because here was the man who had come to school to defend her project on military history to a teacher who’d tried to fail her for going beyond the information provided in the rudimentary course textbook. Here was the man who had hugged her and shown genuine emotions in front of all of his colleagues when Lucy first enlisted. But she also knew he was the same man who’d raised her to believe that all aliens were evil, were invaders from other planets here to destroy the world as they knew it. He was the same man who had abandoned one daughter already, a man who had acted like a protector to his wife, never an equal. 

“I’m, uh, I’m in a relationship.”

“Not with that Jimmy boy again, right? He wasn’t nearly good enough for you.”

“He won the Pulitzer, Dad,” she sighed, trying not to dwell on the past, to remember that defending James wasn’t her reason for bringing up this topic. “But no, it’s not him.”

“Good,” Sam nodded. 

“Do you remember that conversation we had after college? When I talked to you about the woman I was dating during senior year?” She didn’t mention that he had scoffed and told her to get over whatever phase it was and focus on her future. As soon as he nodded but before he could make any comments, she pushed forward: “Well, I have found a very loving relationship with,” she took a deep breath: “with two very wonderful, very accomplished women.”

“That’s not a relationship.”

She ground her teeth at his easy dismissal. “It is. And I know that it isn’t perhaps the most conventional definition of a relationship, but they make me happy, Dad. They make me happy, and I work to make them happy too. We work together—all of us—at defining how our family will work when we don’t have a template set for us. And I know that right now, maybe you need time to sit with it. But I am going to continue seeing them, no matter what you end up deciding. But if you can be happy for your daughter, can support me, then I would very much like you to meet them.”

For a long while he said nothing, steadily working away at his steak until all that was left on his plate were a few spears of asparagus. Finally he cleared his throat: “I might have been able to come around to you seeing a…woman. But this—it’s like you’re trying to bait me.”

“This has nothing to do with you,” Lucy interjected. “I am finally making decisions for myself, based on what makes me happy.”

“Well then I hope you’re happy enough with them to make up for losing everyone else.”

Shaking her head and swallowing harshly, refusing to let her father see how his words affected her, Lucy spit back: “I’m not losing everyone else; I’m just losing one close-minded old man.” 

As Sam put down his glass heavily, Lucy was already up on her feet, swinging her purse off the back of her chair, dropping a twenty on the table, and storming out of the restaurant. 

She made it all the way back to their apartment still fueled by righteous anger, by indignation at the words he’d dared to throw at her, at everything else she knew would have come if she’d stayed in the restaurant, allowed him to continue talking to her like that. But it only took one look from Maggie and Alex for the hurt and sadness to mingle with her anger, to leave her choking back tears before finally giving in and sobbing openly, letting herself be wrapped up in her girlfriends’ arms.

“We’ve got you,” Maggie whispered, her voice soothing and quiet. “No matter what happened, we’re here for you.” She ran her fingers through Lucy’s hair, pressing soft kisses against her forehead. “We love you, Luce.”

“We have ways of making him disappear,” Alex added, her tone equally soothing and quiet even if her words were of a distinctly different quality—a disjunction that had Lucy laughing through her tears. 

“Wouldn’t expect anything less, Danvers,” Lucy hiccupped. 

“Now, how about we fill you a bath?” Maggie offered. 

“And we’ll light those little tea light candles you like and do the essential oils and everything,” Alex added.

“And we can make some tea,” Maggie continued, already holding out a hand to lead Lucy to the master bathroom.

“And cuddle up with movies when you’re done your bath,” Alex nodded, following behind them.

“Yeah, okay,” Lucy added with a small sniffle, letting herself be loved and held and cared for by her two favorite people. And soon she was being led into a steamy rooms, being helped into a hot bath, watching Alex line up little candles around the sink (because, “It would be so bad if you burned your arm or your hair by lining them around the tub, guys!”), smiling as Maggie shuffled off to get the tea ready while Alex sat down on the bathmat next to the tub so that she could be eye-level with Lucy, feeling the stress of her dinner slowly melt away. Because maybe Sam Lane wouldn’t be there for her, maybe he’d never come around or want to meet her partners or come to a commitment ceremony if they ever decided that was the right next step. But she had Alex and Maggie, and they were worth so much more than he ever was.


	17. Truth or Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for director sanvers: so i was watching youtube and theres a channel that's kinda buzzfeed-ish i forget what its called and a video they did was like truth or drink and i was running it through my head i feel like it could be hella a funny thing where the 3 of em do truth or drink and maybe even when they get home and talk about it lol
> 
> A/N Since it had already gotten pretty long, I kept it at just the game itself. Pretty cracky, a little nsfw

Lucy laughed as Alex brought back an entire bottle of whiskey to their table—a rather secluded booth in the back of the bar, the perfect place for laughing and drinking and answering embarrassing questions without everyone hearing. 

“Getting a round of shots wasn’t enough?” Lucy teased.

“The way you talked about those questions? I think we need the whole damn bottle for me alone.”

“Just remember,” Maggie added, looking sternly at Alex, then at Lucy for good measure, “we should all be sober enough to have decent sex tonight.”

Alex sighed but nodded in understanding. She knew Maggie would never, ever tie her up or let them do anything even remotely dangerous if she neared the edge of tipsy, let alone went all the way to drunk, and this was the first night off they’d all had together in a while. Of course, Alex had wanted to spend it at home, but then Kara had called, asked if they wouldn’t stop by Dollywood. She didn’t mention that the whole gang, including her old boss finally back in National City from her long sabbatical, would be coming, didn’t mention that Alex probably wouldn’t be missed. So they went. And they mingled. And now they were sitting down to play some silly drinking game Lucy loved. 

“Who’s going first?” Lucy asked, looking at her girlfriends with a grin on her face.

“I suppose I’ll volunteer,” Maggie offered.

Lucy clicked on the app to generate a question card: “When was the last time you masturbated and where was I? Or, I guess, where were we, since apparently this game assumes we’re all two-person couples. ”

Maggie closed her eyes, thinking back a few days. “Um, I think Wednesday morning? You two had both left early for some DEO emergency that NCPD wasn’t assigned to.”

“And we didn’t get any texts? Rude.” Lucy glared at Maggie, crossing her arms.

“I wouldn’t want to distract you!”

“Fine,” Lucy relented. “Your turn, Danvers.”

“Alright,” Alex shrugged. 

Maggie read the question this time: “Finish this line. My favorite genre of porn is ---?”

Alex quickly poured herself a shot and downed it. “Alright, Lucy?” 

Lucy and Maggie both bit back grins, knowing Alex would eventually play along. After all, she wanted sex enough to stay relatively sober. “Hit me,” Lucy grinned.

Alex hit the app and read aloud: “Can you read the last three texts from your ex?”

“Sure.” Lucy minimized the app and quickly called up her messages from James. “Let’s see…we’ve got: ‘Are you coming to Dollywood tonight?’ “Yeah, you?’ ‘Yep. See you there.’”

“That’s a way easier question,” Alex grumbled. 

“Aww, poor Alex,” Maggie teased, looking expectantly up at Lucy as she waited for her own question.

“Alright, Maggie: Who’s the most inappropriate person you’ve ever fantasized about?”

Maggie contemplated the question before answering: “My thesis advisor in undergrad.”

Alex shrugged. “I mean, that’s not that bad. We’ve all got good memories about certain professors.”

Lucy giggled, suspecting Alex probably had more professor crushes than any of them.

“Oh, uh, I might have had these fantasies while she was still my advisor…” Maggie admitted

“Damn, next thing I know, I’m gonna find out you’ve got a praise kink as deep as Danvers,” Lucy cackled. 

“For her? Fuck yeah.”

“Huh, I feel like maybe I should be offended,” Lucy mused. “Anyway, time for Alex to go. Think you’re gonna answer this time?”

Alex didn’t deign to reply, just looked at Maggie and waited for her to read the card. 

Maggie cleared her throat before announcing: “How many sexual partners have you had?”

Remembering she couldn’t drink too many more times before sex was off the table, Alex tried to think. “Um, I don’t know…there are a lot of blank nights from grad school,” she admitted, feeling slightly ashamed.

“That’s fine, Alex,” Maggie assured her, throwing an arm around Alex’s shoulders. “Want another question as a do-over?”

“Nope!” Alex grinned at Maggie. “I answered honestly. Therefore, I’m done.” She looked at Lucy as she tapped on the phone. “Name two celebrities you’d want to have sex with if we weren’t together?”

“Hmm, Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron.”

“Aww, our perfect little bisexual,” Maggie teased, sticking her tongue out at Lucy. “My turn.”

“Finish this line. I lost my virginity to ---?”

“My first girlfriend in college,” Maggie answered. “Laurel Anderson.” She smiled, thinking back to earlier days. Their breakup had been a bit emotional, but there were definitely worse people to have dated. “Alright, Alex, do I ever pop into your head when you masturbate?”

Alex blushed but nodded. Before Maggie and Lucy, she would have vehemently denied ever masturbating, but now she found herself opening up about these kinds of things more easily (though nowhere near as easily as they did, at least out in public and without a couple of drinks in her first). 

“I like hearing that,” Maggie whispered, looking up at Alex through thick lashes. “I love the thought of you not being able to wait for me to get home from work.”

Not one to be left out of the fun, Lucy rested a hand on Alex’s. “Do you think about me too?”

“I, uh, I don’t think that was the question.”

“This game was designed for couples. C’mon, I think it’s only fair if I know…”

“You already know the answer,” Alex grumbled.

“I’d like to hear it from your lips, though,” Lucy purred.

“Fine. Yes, I do.”

Lucy grinned brilliantly back at Alex. “Maybe when we get home you tell us a little more? If you open up tonight, I bet we could even act out one of your fantasies one day…”

“Maybe,” Alex shrugged, trying not to look too excited by the prospect. To distract from the very inappropriate images suddenly swirling through her thoughts—images of Maggie and Lucy taking turns riding her face, feeling them coming on her tongue over and over again—Alex hit the app. “What would you think if you caught me watching porn?” She pursed her lips. It seemed unfair that yet another question was about her.

“Again?” Maggie teased.

“It was one time,” Alex whined.

“One glorious time,” Lucy corrected. She wasn’t in any hurry to forget the time she and Maggie had come back from the gym far earlier than expected after the fire alarm had gone off only to find Alex’s fingers working frantically between her own legs with a rather kinky CrashPad video playing on her computer. “Obviously I wouldn’t mind. I’d think it was hot. Just like last time.”

Blushing, Alex just motioned for them to continue and not dwell on it. Lucy dropped it…for now, and spun for a new card. “Sawyer: What’s the least amount of time you’ve known someone for before sleeping with them?”

“Uh…an hour?”

Alex and Lucy both laughed, though Alex also nodded, remembering her days in grad school. They knew Lucy, despite her openness in the bedroom, had actually been pretty careful about whom she slept with—probably a result of her time in the army, the years she spent serving under “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell.” 

“Alex,” Maggie began, looking up at Alex and wiggling her eyebrows playfully. “How long has your longest dry spell been?”

“Oh, jeez, like…three or four years,” Alex admitted. “Pretty much from the time I became a field agent at the DEO until we started dating.”

“Damn,” Maggie whistled. “That’s impressive.”

“Fuck off,” Alex scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“No! I mean it! Like, I’d have killed someone in that time with all of the stress,” Maggie laughed. “So impressive self-control.”

“Thanks,” Alex replied sarcastically. She turned to Lucy with the phone in her hand. “What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you during sex?”

Thinking, Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. “Oh, I was a little drunk and forgot that my period was starting and ended up getting blood all over this guy and his bed.”

“This guy—a one night stand?” Maggie asked looking shocked.

“Oh, er, no,” Lucy shook her head, blushing a faint pink. “It was actually James.”

Alex chuckled, “At least I feel like he’d be pretty okay with it.”

“Yeah, no, he was fine,” Lucy added, shaking her head at the memory. It had been rather…messy.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Maggie offered, “I had a roommate—a summer session roommate that I barely knew and certainly wasn’t out to—come back, like, super drunk while my girlfriend and I were having sex. I managed to cover us in time, but this girl just giggled and asked if we were having ‘secret special time.’ Like…yeah, yeah, we are. Only, I didn’t say anything, so she got in bed and passed out, and I had to find all of Laurel’s clothes…she was not pleased.”

“That’s awful,” Alex laughed. “What do you say to one more round, then back to our place for some distinctly less embarrassing sex?”

“Alright,” Lucy agreed, “but only on the condition that we all answer all of the questions. If any of us want to skip one in favor of a drink, we all have to add another question.”

Maggie agreed and Alex eventually relented. Lucy spun the app first. “When was the last time you’ve ever faked an orgasm and why?”

Alex was ready to answer, but then Maggie was pouring herself a shot and refusing to make eye contact.

“What?” Lucy squealed. “That means it was with us! What happened? When was this?”

Alex chimed in, though part of her didn’t want to know, didn’t want to lose the confidence she’d slowly built up in the bedroom.

Maggie stayed silent. “Drinking was always an option instead of an answer. This is my first time opting out.”

“Fine,” Lucy eventually relented when it became clear that she wasn’t going to get an answer. “That means we don’t have to answer either, but we’ve still got to get through three questions. Maggie, your turn to read the question.”

Maggie nodded, then read: “Which people in this room would you bang?”

Alex motioned at Maggie and Lucy, though Lucy gestured at the room around them. “Big picture, Danvers,” she teased.

Alex looked around, took in M’gann and Lena and Darla and Cat and a few of the regulars they’d gotten to know. She followed in Maggie’s footsteps and downed a shot.

“Seriously?” Lucy gasped. “That means there’s either someone embarrassing on your list—”

“Or a whole lot of people on your list,” Maggie added, finishing Lucy’s thought.

Alex just shrugged, smiling wanly at them before tapping for a new question. “What’s the most desperate thing you’ve ever done because you were horny?”

Lucy grabbed for the bottle. “If you two are going to play this way, so will I. Have to catch up, right?”

“At some point we need to go back to questions if we ever want to leave,” Maggie interjected.

“I know,” Lucy replied. “Just a shot of liquid courage for this last round.” She grabbed her phone back and pulled up a new question: “Where’s the most inappropriate place you’ve ever masturbated?”

Maggie thought back to the past, trying to figure out what would be considered the most inappropriate place. “In my dorm room,” Maggie finally offered. Seeing the look of confusion on Alex’s face and annoyance on Lucy’s, she added: “On the top bunk while my roommate was still awake on the bottom…”

“Ah, makes more sense,” Lucy conceded.

Alex blushed and, avoiding eye contact, admitted: “In the training room at the DEO.”

“What? Seriously?” Maggie asked.

“You two had spent the whole day sexting me! And it’s one of the few rooms where we have heavy duty locks and every single wall is lined with lead!”

“Fair enough,” Lucy laughed. “I guess mine would be…huh, I don’t know. Oh! At James’ mom’s house! He got really weird about the idea of having sex in his childhood bedroom, but we’d been making out for ages, so…yeah.”

Chuckling, Maggie nodded in understanding. “Alright, you two: Would you sleep with any of your exes?”

Lucy shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

“Nope,” Alex shook her head.

“I probably would,” Maggie offered. “That one was easy, at least.”

“Ready for the last question?” Alex asked, pulling the phone toward her.

“So ready!” Lucy exclaimed. More importantly, she was so ready to get her girls back home. 

“What’s the weirdest sexual roleplay you’ve ever participated in?” Alex whispered as Kara’s laugh at something Winn had said echoed through the bar.

Lucy frowned for a moment before answering with a grimace: "One of my ex-boyfriends in college wanted to play lawyer and criminal."

"Ugh. I still have a hard time getting behind the ones that veer into real professions. I know we had fun in the end," Alex added, looking at Maggie, "but playing doctor is not for me. Too many questions about ethics."

Maggie laughed. "Fair enough. I think I just like that coat..."

"So say we all," Lucy chimed in, raising her glass in a toast. "Now what about you?"

Blushing, Maggie laughed awkwardly. "Um, there was this thing with a one night stand...some costumes were involved. Before I met you, Danvers!" she added.

"It's fine, Maggie, really."

"Yeah, but, um, it might have been a little elaborate...there was a whole plot...involving a rescue by Supergirl..."

And before Lucy could begin yelling questions while Alex covered her ears and hummed loudly, Kara was at their table. "You guys talking about me?"

Color seemed to drain rapidly out of Maggie's face. "What, uh, what did you, um, hear, little Danvers?" she stammered, her usually cool and calm exterior rapidly crumbling.

"Just my name! I like to tune in for it in case people call for help."

Alex sighed loudly. "We were just saying we were gonna head out for the night. That's all. Enjoy the rest of your time here!"

"Oh, okay... bye!"

And then Lucy was cackling and shuffling her blushing girlfriends out of the bar and into a cab, whispering promises about getting Alex to open up and making each and every one of her fantasies come true.


	18. Lucy Giving Up Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi, if you're open to new prompts, how do you feel about another director sanvers one? With either Lucy giving up control to Maggie & Alex or them making her give up control? Of course everything happening with consent. Maybe a bit kinky? Blindfolding or tying her up? Making her watch maybe and teasing her until they finally give her what she needs. Just a couple ideas, whatever you feel like. Just would love to see Lucy like that once in a while :)

“Are you sure?” Alex repeated, knowing this wasn’t exactly what Lucy did. Lucy topped. Hell, the most control Alex had ever seen Lucy cede in the bedroom was when she deigned to top from the bottom or the handful of times she’d allowed Alex to spell out exactly what she wanted her girlfriends to do to her. 

“I trust you,” Lucy insisted. “Both of you.” And she did. Of that much she was certain. Whether it would translate into actually being able to enjoy herself, time would tell. But her girlfriends were safe, would keep her safe, would listen to her needs and keep an ear out for her safewords. And it certainly wasn’t as though she was diving straight into subbing. She’d tried once—not with Alex and Maggie, but with another ex—and found the experience altogether unpleasant, though she suspected that her current girlfriends might help her ease into it slowly enough that she could enjoy herself. 

With a grin, Maggie and Alex guided Lucy back into the kitchen chair they had dragged into the bedroom. If they were going to get their turn to subject Lucy to a bit of forced waiting, dammit if they weren’t going to put on a show for her. 

“Let me know if this is too tight, okay?” Maggie asked as she cut off a piece of the bondage tape. They had decided that the cuffs were too much; Lucy felt a bit too confined by them, by the knowledge that no amount of maneuvering would get her out of them. The tape, though, it felt safe, felt flimsy even though it absolutely wasn’t, even though she’d watched it hold Alex’s hands fast together, behind her back, as she took her from behind. 

Lucy nodded and confirmed with Maggie as she allowed her hands to be taped behind the back of the chair. “I promise, I’m good. Green.”

“Okay,” Maggie nodded, placing a soft kiss on Lucy’s lips. “In that case, I want you to sit still and watch. You don’t get to give orders. You don’t get to move or touch yourself or anything until we tell you that you’re allowed to, okay?”

“Got it,” Lucy nodded, resisting the temptation to push back, to test her limits. 

“Perfect,” Alex purred, quickly pushing Maggie back down onto the bed, making sure that Lucy could see absolutely everything. She claimed Maggie’s lips in a searing kiss, letting her hands wander across heated skin, feeling the charge in the air that had seemed to crackle ever since they stumbled their way into the bedroom—a mass of tangled limbs and whispered promises and heady glances. 

Allowing herself to be pushed back down onto the bed, Maggie let out a low groan as Alex’s mouth trailed across her jaw and down her neck, nipping and sucking just hard enough for Maggie to feel it without leaving noticeable marks. As soon as Alex pulled back, Maggie seized the opportunity to pull Alex’s shirt and sports bra over her head in one fluid movement, pulling Alex back down and guiding her up far enough that Maggie could reach Alex’s breasts with her mouth, letting her teeth and tongue work at Alex’s nipples while her nails scratched down the length of Alex’s back before coming to rest on her ass, kneading at the firm muscles. 

“Fuck,” Lucy finally breathed out, unable to hold back any longer. She could feel heat coursing through her body, pulsing between her legs, and she was fairly certain she was already dripping wet. 

“How’s it going?” Alex teased, turning to look over her shoulder at Lucy, making eye contact just in time for Lucy to see her mouth drop open and her back arch as Maggie’s fingers found their way between Alex’s legs, rubbing hard through her jeans. 

All Lucy could manage was another low, “Fuck,” as Alex pulled back up onto her knees, helping Maggie to pull off her shirt and unhook her bra. Only, Alex didn’t stop there. She’d waited long enough, and she needed Maggie naked already, needed Maggie writhing under her touch, coming on her tongue. 

“Yours too,” Maggie insisted, helping to push Alex’s jeans and boyshorts down and off her legs, pulling her back up to tangle their bodies together. 

As much as Alex wanted to stay like this, wanted to let herself fall over the edge riding Maggie’s thigh, she also wanted to give Lucy a better show than that. So with a sigh, she pulled herself back, drawing back and dropping to her stomach between Maggie’s legs. “You good?” Alex checked.

“Please,” Maggie whimpered, winking at Lucy who had whimpered right along with her. Sure, she sometimes gave her girls instructions, watched as they fucked each other at her behest, but seeing a show that she hadn’t orchestrated was something else entirely. 

Alex put on a show of torturing Maggie, kissing long, slow paths up and down her thighs, kissing all around where she desperately wanted her to be, before finally giving in, drawing teasing, playful licks up and down the length of Maggie’s pussy. She whimpered as she felt Maggie’s hands tangling in her hair, her hips bucking up into her mouth, urging her faster, harder. 

Puling back for a moment, Alex smirked at Lucy before turning her attention back to Maggie. “Hey, Maggie, since Lucy isn’t getting to play with us, why don’t you tell her what I’m doing to you?”

Maggie groaned, but she nodded, dropping her head back to the pillow as Alex’s tongue resumed its torturously slow path up the length of her sex. Her voice thick with want, Maggie began: “She’s good, Luce. You know what she does, when she teases us? Makes us wait like we make her wait for hours, make drip down her thighs and over the sheets while we spank her and tease her.” 

Lucy whimpered loudly as Maggie’s breathing turned more ragged, as her descriptions turned to pleas, begging Alex for more. She could tell the moment Alex complied, as Maggie cried out, her hands fisting in the sheets. Lucy longed to step in, to tell Alex just how good she was being, to test Maggie, see how much longer she could wait. But instead she let herself sit back and enjoy, let herself try to appreciate the feeling of waiting, of being so desperately turned on without any clear outlet in sight. 

“She’s so good, so fucking good,” Maggie panted, her hips rolling into Alex’s mouth. And then one of Alex’s hands was on her chest, Alex’s tongue circling around her clit, and Maggie came with a loud cry. Lucy found she wasn’t able to stay silent, found herself moaning out along with Maggie, felt herself clenching around nothing as her whole body seemed to surge forward. 

She watched on helplessly as Maggie scrambled for their chest, pulled on the harness and the Mustang Royale she had ordered for herself as an early birthday present. Going along with the theme, Maggie kissed Alex hard, whispering, “Do you want to ride my dick?”

Alex nodded quickly, pushing Maggie back down as she grabbed the lube, making a show out of running her hand up and around the dildo, sliding her thumb across the head and stroking up the shaft. But she found she really didn’t want to wait much longer, didn’t want to waste time she could be spending riding Maggie, so she straddled Maggie’s hips and carefully lowered herself down, guiding the toy inside herself. With a low groan, she sank down all the way, meeting Maggie’s hips. 

Once Alex had settled into a rhythm, gotten used to the feel of the toy inside of her, she guided Maggie’s hands to her hips, let her help set a quick rhythm, let her guide Alex in a way that had the base of the toy rocking against her, pushing up into her clit in a way that she knew would push her over the edge soon enough. 

Lucy looked on helplessly as Alex’s chest bounced with every thrust, watched as Alex tossed her hair back and arched her back, rolling and grinding her hips down against Maggie. She gasped as Maggie’s fingers curled deep into Alex’s hips, brought her down more forcefully, grunting at the press of the toy’s base against her. She cried out right alongside Alex as Alex came, her whole body shuddering as her hips stuttered forward while Maggie kept up her pace, helping to work Alex through her orgasm. And she pulled hard enough at the tape to nearly bruise as Alex nodded to Maggie to keep going, to fuck her until Maggie got to come as well. She looked on as Maggie thrust her hips hard up into Alex, stared as Alex rolled her hips in sensual circles, gasped as, with a nod and a whimpered, “Please,” Maggie brought her hand down hard against Alex’s ass, the slap echoing in the room. And then finally Maggie was coming with a guttural moan, her nails scraping down Alex’s back, pulling a low hiss of from her as she arched into Maggie’s touch.

For a moment, Lucy was sure they had forgotten about her, as Alex and Maggie lie wrapped in each other’s arms, sweaty and out of breath. But then they were pulling themselves back up, extricating themselves from the tangle of limbs, pulling off the bondage tape, helping her out of her clothing, kissing at Lucy’s wrists and making sure she was okay when all she wanted was to get out of the chair and into the bed. But when Alex’s lips found hers, she lost the ability to complain, lost the desire to complain. 

By the time Alex had pulled back, Maggie was waiting with a condom rolled down onto her cock and a grin on her face. “Want a turn?”

“Mm, I want a turn with so many things…”

“Then lean over the bed,” Maggie ordered, feeling a thrill run through her as Lucy obeyed without question—something she normally got only from Alex. Of course, it helped that Lucy almost always came hard in this position, that Lucy demanded this when she topped and still wanted to be fucked. 

Lucy moaned as she felt herself being filled, as she felt Alex’s hands running up and over her body as Maggie eased into her, whispering about just how wet she had gotten watching them. At the realization that Alex had slipped behind Maggie, was playing with Maggie’s nipples, pulling loud noises from somewhere deep inside the woman as she fucked Lucy, Lucy felt herself shudder, clenching hard around Maggie’s cock. By the time Alex’s hands slipped around further, flicking hard across Lucy’s clit, Lucy couldn’t wait any longer, found herself pitching forward, her upper body falling to the mattress as Maggie’s firm grip on her waist was all that kept her upright, all that kept her steady. And it might not have been what she was used to, but with her whole body trembling in her lovers’ arms, she found that she might just enjoy it after all.


	19. Director Sanvers V - Maggie and Lucy Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From an anon on Tumblr: Hey! I really love the V universe you've set up. I don't know if you're up for a time jump, but I think it would be fun to see Kara enlisting both Maggie and Lucy to plan something for Alex and them bonding a bit as metamours. Thanks for writing!
> 
> From QueenofMonsea:  
> What does Kara think about Alex having two girlfriends? Telling their mother should be fun too.
> 
> What happens when they’re both invited to game night (“Game Night”?)
> 
> So, I’ve combined these because I think there was a way to make it work. I’ll leave the chapter as a surprise but in case it’s not your thing, CW for a coming out scene (as poly), but it’s characterized more by confusion than by the kind of bigotry we got in the General Lane chapter.

“Alex’s birthday is in three weeks, which means her surprise party is in one! Let me know if you want to help with planning or set up!” Kara sent to all of Alex’s friends. Alex rarely celebrated, but since this was her thirtieth, Kara wanted to give her a proper party complete with friends and family and all the presents she could want. Plus, she’d even asked Eliza not to make chocolate pecan pie in favor of one of Alex’s favorites (though Eliza had been nice enough to offer to bring Kara one anyway). 

As the texts began rolling back in with times when people were available, Kara began assigning everyone tasks, quickly checking items off of the color-coordinated party to-do list she’d created. It was only after she’d finished that she realized she had given Maggie and Lucy party set up together, but she shrugged, figuring they’d have to get to know each other at some point if they were both going to be dating her sister long-term. 

\---

“Lucy, you remember Maggie, right?” Kara asked, hoping the odd tension in the air was just the product of her imagination. 

“Mhm,” Lucy nodded. “Good to see you again.”

“You too,” Maggie greeted somewhat curtly. 

“Well, um, did either of you bring a car? James was supposed to pick up the groceries, but his car ended up in the shop after, um, an alien may have smashed the hood…maybe.”

Lucy and Maggie both chuckled at that detail before straightening and looking serious once more. “Oh, uh, I don’t sorry,” Maggie replied. “I brought my bike.”

“I walked over here,” Lucy chimed in, shaking her head. 

“I have a car,” Eliza offered. “I don’t know that I’d be able to carry everything, but I’m happy to help with transporting food. And it’s good to see you two,” she added, kissing Lucy and Maggie on the cheek, smiling warmly at her daughter’s best friend and her girlfriend. 

“I’ll help,” Lucy volunteered. 

“I can also help,” Maggie added, not wanting to be outdone, especially not by the woman who’d been so condescending about her job the first time they’d met. 

“It’s a lot of food, so, uh, I guess you could both go?” Kara suggested, wondering whether Alex would kill her when she found out. She’d already heard about the rather tense date when Alex had accidentally invited both Maggie and Lucy over for the same night after rescheduling on both of them during a busy week of alien attacks and minor lab disasters. They’d been understanding enough, but both of them ended up forfeiting the night, leaving Kara to come over and help Alex finish the food while reassuring her that it wasn’t the worst thing, that these things were bound to happen with three women as busy as they were. 

“Okay…” Maggie agreed. 

“Sounds…good,” Lucy shrugged, following Eliza down and out to the car. 

The shopping itself was regimented enough not to allow for much awkwardness, as they followed Kara’s detailed list around the store, collecting what looked like far too much food, though Eliza swore it would be just enough. 

When they got back, however, Eliza went to help Kara in the kitchen, leaving Maggie and Lucy to work together to decorate the living room.

“Where do you want to start?” Maggie asked.

“I can take care of the photos,” Lucy offered. “Why don’t you hang the streamers?”

“Fine,” Maggie sighed, even though she knew going through pictures was definitely the more enjoyable task. 

As Lucy settled in with the old albums to find a good mixture of embarrassing and cute photos to put out on display, Maggie scrounged through Kara’s desk until she found the tape for the streamers, then set about looking for a stepladder to hang them. After nearly ten minutes spent searching in vain, Maggie finally turned to Lucy. “You’re short and friends with Kara. Any chance you know where she keeps a little ladder or a stool or something?”

After a brief glare at the short comment, Lucy softened, realizing Maggie was in the same boat. “In the house of Ms. I Can Fly? Not a chance.”

Maggie groaned, trying to figure out how embarrassing it would be to drag a chair all the way in from the kitchen. As if sensing her predicament, Lucy cleared her throat, forcing herself to speak up and be nice. “We could lift each other up, maybe?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, okay,” Maggie agreed. She watched as Lucy carefully set the albums back down on the coffee table before coming to join her. “Found any fun photos?”

“Hundreds,” Lucy answered, cracking a genuine smile. 

“Well, I can’t wait to see them.”

“Yeah…I mean, if we get this done quickly, I suppose you could maybe help me go through the albums?”

“Yeah? That could be nice.”

Lucy nodded, figuring they didn’t really need to dwell on it. “Alright, um, do you want to lift me first? I hear you’re strong.” She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, didn’t need to dwell on the fact that she only knew because Alex happened to have mentioned that Maggie could lift her when fucking her during a conversation she’d had with Lucy about what they were and weren’t comfortable with in bed. 

“Sounds good.” Once Lucy had a handful of streamers and tape in hand, Maggie bent down and carefully lifted Lucy up, holding her up just long enough for her to get the first half of the streamers hung, completely oblivious to Kara snapping pictures of them on her phone. 

“Want to take a turn hanging them?” Lucy asked when she got down. It totally had nothing to do with her wanting to prove that she was just as strong.

“Um, sure? Should I get on your back?”

“Yeah, that works,” Lucy agreed, bending over to let Maggie climb up and staggering only slightly as she tried to find her balance with Maggie perched high on her shoulders. She was fairly certain she heard giggling from behind them, but she couldn’t very well spin around to see. 

Once they had all of the decorations up, they settled in on the couch, flipping through the albums. Somewhat begrudgingly, Maggie found herself admitting that she understood what Alex saw in Lucy. Once she got past the first impression—and admittedly, it was quite the first impression to get past—she started to understand Lucy’s sense of humor, her sharp wit. And the woman was pretty, she’d give Alex that detail. 

Without knowing what was going through Maggie’s head, Lucy found herself doing the same. She’d already accepted that Maggie was a great girlfriend. She was grateful to the woman for finally helping Alex out of the closet, even if she was bitter about Maggie’s having turned her down at first, and she certainly respected Maggie for her ability to control her jealousy and actually propose a poly relationship instead of trying to control Alex or anything like that.

“Oh my god,” Maggie cackled, pulling Lucy out of her thoughts. “We have to use this one!”

“What is it?” Lucy asked, craning her neck to see the album. 

“Only Alex Danvers and her first beard,” Maggie laughed, holding up the photo from Alex’s junior prom of her with a boy Eliza later told them was named Jacob, who was so obviously, flamboyantly gay that Maggie wondered if even oblivious Alex Danvers had noticed. 

“Now, does it top this one of clearly gay Alex?” Lucy asked, pulling out a photo of Alex rocking some ripped up skinny jeans and a dark flannel with a black beanie on top of slightly longer hair. 

“Ooh, but that could be from Alex’s punk phase meets 90s grunge fashion.”

“Yeah…but she looks so at home in it,” Lucy laughed.

“Fair point. Wait! Do you think we can find photos of her and Vicky?”

“Who?”

“Alex’s first big lesbian crush,” Maggie answered. “Apparently they were best friends for most of high school.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. Think Kara would help us? Or do you think she would tell us not to embarrass Alex?”

“Maybe we find this photo just for us?” Maggie suggested, figuring they shouldn’t try to bring up potentially bad memories for Alex at her own party. 

“Good idea.”

\---

“Surprise!” everyone yelled as Alex walked through the door.

Once she stopped reaching for her gun, she let herself smile and laugh. “Aww, thank you! Even if this surprise was a little…surprising.”

“Don’t worry, I was ready to tackle you if you actually tried to shoot any of us,” Kara pointed out with a cheerful grin.

“So helpful,” Alex laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Now come in! Let’s get cake!”

Alex let herself be led in and soon made her rounds through the room, talking to everyone who had made it. Her breath caught slightly at the sight of Lucy and Maggie together, but they seemed to be getting along, so she let herself relax. 

Once everyone had appetizers and a drink, Alex subtly made her way over to Lucy, who was motioning for her to join her in Kara’s room, where they were storing the coats and presents.

“What’s up?” 

“Just wanted to say hi,” Lucy said, kissing Alex briefly on the lips. “I know not everyone knows about us, so I wanted my chance before I leave you to Maggie for the rest of the party.”

“Ah well in that case,” Alex trailed off, leaning in for another kiss.

“Wait!” Lucy paused Alex with a finger to the lips. “I promised Vasquez I’d pass along her gift and card. She couldn’t get off work today, since, well, since I’m taking the day off.”

“Ah, well, tell her I understand and thank her for the gift. Now…where were we?”

Grinning, Lucy pulled Alex in by her belt loops and let herself melt into the embrace. She was far too distracted and happy to notice the sound of the door opening, but she definitely heard the small cough and quickly pulled back from Alex. 

“Alexandra, do you have a minute?” Eliza asked, her eyes flashing with something that looked a lot like anger, maybe disappointment.

“Er, yeah, okay,” Alex nodded, trying to swallow her fear. “I’ll see you out there,” she whispered to Lucy, giving her hand a small squeeze before she let her mother guide her over to Kara’s bed. 

“Alexandra,” Eliza sighed. “How could you?”

Reacting to the accusing tone in Eliza’s voice, Alex felt herself getting defensive. “How could I what, Mom? Kiss another woman? What happened to how supportive you were supposed to be?”

“I am supportive of your being gay. I am not supportive of your cheating on someone as wonderful as Maggie. Do you know she spent all afternoon helping me get ready for your party? She took time off of work because she cares for you. How could you just ignore that?”

“Oh,” Alex sighed, feeling herself relax until she realized this meant a second coming out, meant trying to explain something to Eliza she’d only recently learned about herself. “It’s not, I’m not cheating on Maggie.”

“I saw you!” Eliza snapped.

“Maggie and I are…” Alex paused, trying to find the right words. “Maggie knows about Lucy.”

“She knows?” Eliza repeated.

“She knows,” Alex confirmed. “She, well, it was sort of her idea. I mean, she just, I had,” Alex fumbled over her words, trying to find a way to tell her mother that she’d been sleeping with Lucy for several months before admitting she was gay without actually telling her mother any of that. “Maggie has been in polyamorous relationships in the past, and she could see that there was something…unfinished between Lucy and me, so she thought that maybe I should try dating Lucy too. And I still love Maggie! But I like Lucy too, and we’ve been dating for the past month or so.”

Eliza nodded for a few moments. “And you’re happy?”

“I am.”

“And they’re happy?”

“They are. We’re very open with communication.”

“That’s good.” After a pause, Eliza asked: “And you’re all practicing safe—”

“Yes!” Alex interjected, not needing to talk to her mother about every part of her life.

“It’s an important question, Alex.”

“I know, just, the answer is yes, okay?”

“Okay, okay.” 

“So you’re…not mad?”

“I’m not mad. I will have questions. For instance, at the holidays, do I invite both of them to join you? Will that be weird for them? Things did feel a bit…awkward when we all went shopping together this morning.”

“Wait. You all went out together?” Alex asked.

“Yes, Kara had them come with me to the store to help carry the groceries back.”

Alex groaned, dropping her head into her hands. As much as she understood that they were all adults, she also remembered just how poorly their first few meetings had gone.

“If it makes you feel any better, they seemed to be getting along later.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded. “Do you mind if I go find Maggie?”

“I think that’s a smart idea.”

\---

“Maggie, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know Kara was going to assign you to work with Lucy, and I can definitely say something to her so she knows better than to do it in the future.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Maggie assured Alex. “It was…weird at first, but we made it work. Plus, I know I didn’t like her that much in the beginning, but I still liked the way she made you happy. And now, I don’t know, we’re not best friends, but we get along. We had fun together. And that’s important in a relationship like ours.”

“Okay,” Alex sighed, finally feeling herself relax. “You’re pretty amazing, you know that?”

“Oh, definitely.” Maggie grinned, kissing Alex briefly on the cheek. 

“You know you can do more than that, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s not fair to Lucy. I don’t know, I don’t want her to feel totally out of this part of your life when we’re out with everyone, so I can wait. I still get you tonight, don’t I?”

“You do,” Alex agreed. “But also, just so you know, my mom now knows.”

“Oh…how’d that happen?”

“Er, she may have found Lucy and me kissing in Kara’s room. And assumed I was cheating on you. So then I had to explain.”

Laughing, Maggie shook her head in exasperation. “Only you, Danvers. But, if Lucy already got her chance…” Maggie trailed off, biting her lip as Alex caught on and leaned in to kiss her soundly on the lips. “Much better,” Maggie murmured between kisses.

“C’mon lovebirds,” Lucy interrupted them a few minutes later. “It’s time to sing Happy Birthday.”

“Yes, yes,” Alex sighed, squeezing both of their hands as she let herself be led over to the table for cake.


	20. Camping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From go-sullivan: So I guess this is a prompt? Director Sanvers going camping. I blame reading Alex teasing Lucy that roughing it for fun is different from doing it for work. And then Maggie probably schools the both of them probably but they all have different skill sets for camping.

**Day 1**

“I hate you all,” Lucy grumbled as she swatted at the mosquitos buzzing around her exposed legs and arms.

“This is literally not even camping,” Maggie laughed. “We’re staying in a cabin!”

“A cabin in the middle of the woods without electricity,” Lucy corrected her.

“A cabin that we didn’t assemble ourselves that has actual beds and indoor plumbing, plus a gas range that we can light with matches alone,” Maggie challenged.

“The water is lukewarm at best, and we have fucking bunkbeds,” Lucy countered.

“If you two are just about done now, I’d really love to actually make use of our rare three vacation days,” Alex sighed.

“That we chose to use for camping,” Lucy grumbled, striding across the small cabin to get her bag.

“At least we’re bickering in a brand new location,” Maggie laughed, shrugging at Alex’s expression of exasperation.

Eventually they managed to get everything unpacked. They settled into their spaces, Alex taking the bottom bunk to keep Maggie and Lucy from killing each other, figuring they could either suck it up and share the top bunk or one of them could come join her on the bottom.

“Alright, what still needs to be done?” Alex asked, looking to Maggie for guidance. Sure, she’d been camping a few times, but she’d always had a superpowered sister with her to help if they really needed anything. And Lucy, well, she drew a hard line between the amount of roughing it and camping she’d done by necessity during her time serving tours of duty and the free time she now preferred to enjoy in her own apartment or “fully furnished hotels.”

“Well, I know that we have a range in here, but it’d be nice to get a fire going outside for tonight,” Maggie answered.

“Oh good, so we can forfeit more modern conveniences in favor of the hardest possible way of doing things?” Lucy snarked.

“Play nice,” Alex warned.

“We don’t even have a bed big enough to play in!” Lucy snapped back, biting her lip as Maggie stepped forward and into her space.

“Are you being bratty because you’re actually miserable or because you want us to pay more attention to you?” Maggie asked.

Lucy took a minute to consider it. Sure, this vacation certainly wasn’t her choice, but she liked spending time with her girlfriends, and even she could admit that the scenery was fairly gorgeous, even if she would have preferred to be less sweaty and outdoors when observing it. “It wouldn’t hurt if you wanted to pay a little more attention to me…”

“That’s what I thought,” Maggie growled, bending her knees and picking Lucy up. “You good?”

“Mhm, best I’ve felt this whole damn trip.”

“We’ve been here for two hours,” Alex sighed, following her girlfriends over to the bed, where they were apparently going to take over her bottom bunk, finding it the preferable option for at least one activity.

“Yet when we leave you waiting for just an hour or two when you come home and need something, suddenly it’s the end of the world,” Lucy teased Alex.

“For that, you’re on the bottom,” Alex taunted, advancing over and helping Maggie to pin Lucy down. “You know your colors, right?”

“Yes,” Lucy sighed. “Green.”

\---

**Day 2**

After a long morning spent following Maggie into the woods on a long hike and running into a portion of the trail that ended up being inaccessible thanks to recent storms and listening to Lucy complain and Maggie get increasingly defensive, Alex was exhausted. They’d traveled before, but somehow this trip seemed to be bringing out the worst in her girlfriends in a way none of the other traveling had. She wondered if it was the lack of contact with other people…

But their late lunch after the hike had been tense enough that Maggie ended up setting up her hammock and going outside to take some time to be alone. Which wasn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but seemed bad to Alex when accompanied by the slamming cabin door.

“Alright, time to gather some wood for tonight’s fire,” Maggie announced as she laced back up her hiking boots after coming back in from her nap.

“You know I’d love to help, but I really think some of these scratches I got on our hike might be getting infected,” Lucy sighed, looking far too pleased with herself as she flopped down onto the bottom bunk.

“Oh, I should look at them,” Alex exclaimed, already pulling out her first aid kit and barking directions at Lucy about getting out a towel and elevating her legs. Lucy almost insisted that Alex didn’t need to help, but then she noticed just how cute Alex looked when she was so concerned about Lucy as she transitioned into Dr. Danvers mode. And when Alex dropped to her knees in front of the bed…well, could anyone blame Lucy?

“Just tell me what to do, Doctor,” Lucy purred, biting her lip and winking at Maggie as soon as Alex was distracted.

Maggie let out a string of spluttering sounds of annoyance laced with obscenities, only to be shushed by Alex who had gone into full medic mode.

“Bye, Maggie,” Lucy yelled far too cheerily.

By the time Maggie got back, Alex had already gotten the fire started and Lucy was actually helping to find sticks that they could use for roasting marshmallows and making s’mores.

“What’d you do to her?” Maggie asked, looking suspiciously between the two of them.

“What do you think I did to her?” Alex retorted, arching an eyebrow.

Lucy’s satisfied smirk answered that question quite easily, but then she took a deep breath and added, “I’m sorry I’ve been…less than cooperative. I know that we all agreed to this vacation together. I just, I don’t know. I haven’t gone camping for ‘fun’ since I was a kid and my dad took me out, and obviously I shouldn’t expect this to be like it was with him, when everything felt like I was just learning to follow in his footsteps, like the vacation was some kind of training exercise or audition to prove that I was good enough. And I’ll admit, this really, really isn’t my top pick for a weekend away, but I’m here with you two, and I should make sure you know that you’re enough for me to be happy.”

“Thank you,” Maggie whispered, wrapping Lucy tightly in her arms. “It means a lot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucy shrugged, sniffing slightly.

“But, in honor of acknowledging that this isn’t totally your thing, what if we let you pick our activities for tomorrow?” Maggie suggested.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Alex confirmed, beaming at her girls finally getting along.

“Can we go sailing out on the lake?” Lucy asked, finally looking excited.

“It’s whatever you want,” Alex told her.

\---

**Day 3**

The next morning, after a rather late but altogether enjoyable evening, Lucy sprung out of bed looking far happier than she had for the majority of their trip.

“Why are you this chipper?” Alex groaned, rubbing at her eyes.

“Well, for one, we leave today. But,” she added, looking up at Maggie, “I’m also excited to go out sailing with you two!”

Neither Alex nor Maggie realized that when Lucy said sailing, she actually meant sailing. Alex had assumed they’d get kayaks or maybe a canoe, while Maggie sort of figured they’d get a small rowboat. Neither of them had expected an actual boat with sails and instructions and all sorts of things they didn’t quite understand.

“Um, Luce, do you know how to…drive one of these things?” Alex asked, looking slightly skeptical.

“Well, it’s not called driving, but yes, my dad used to take me out sailing when he was on leave.”

“Okay…I guess we’re trusting you to get us home safely,” Maggie shrugged.

“We haven’t even left the dock yet,” Lucy laughed, but she was nice enough not to say anything when both Alex and Maggie happily accepted the emergency radios and life jackets from the guy running the boat rental.

It took a while for Alex and Maggie to get comfortable with the terminology alone, but they let Lucy teach them, let her take the lead when it came to just about everything, and finally collapsed on the deck with her once they made it out to the middle of the lake.

“Sailing is hard. Why do rich people have such exhausting past times?” Maggie panted, pulling a loud laugh from both Alex and Lucy.

“At least you looked hot with all the ropes and stuff,” Alex offered.

“That’s just cause they remind you of Lucy tying you up,” Maggie teased, poking Alex in the side.

“Shut up,” Alex grumbled, but Lucy was already clambering over Maggie to be closer to Alex.

“Is that true? When we get back from vacation is that something you want?”

“That depends…”

“On what?” Lucy asked, pulling herself up onto her elbows to look down at Alex.

“On whether you and Maggie behave yourselves the rest of this damn trip.”

“We’ve only got a few more hours to go,” Lucy laughed.

“And yet…” Alex trailed off, rolling her eyes.

“I think knowing our reward will ensure that we get along just fine,” Maggie chimed in.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”


	21. Safe Sex and a Slightly Confused Kara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 1: So, if you're still taking prompts, I have a director sanvers prompt: we all know how awkward Kara gets when she walks in on Alex with her girlfriends, but what if she walked in on just Maggie and Lucy? And since Alex wasn't there, she felt brave enough to ask them something sex-related she's been wondering about.
> 
> Prompt 2: Could we see a safe sex chapter for Director Sanvers as well? [A/N: this refers to my Sanvers safe sex chapter 124 of Stronger Together - http://archiveofourown.org/works/10724550/chapters/26696121]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Copying in the safe sex notes from my Stronger Together chapter so that all the info is here
> 
> A/N: Thank you for excellent prompts! I reference these things a bit in chapters in Welcome to the Gayborhood, especially, but since I’m typically writing people in monogamous, already established relationships, I agree, it doesn’t come up as often as it should. I think fanfic does an amazing job of showing that consent can be sexy, but we don’t always do such a great job with normalizing safe sex, so thank you both for the reminder, and hopefully this satisfies!
> 
> A/N 2: Quick facts on safe sex for two women-identified partners: for anything phallic shaped – be it a sex toy or an organ – cover it in a condom! Lube is wonderful, but if you’re using silicone sex toys (which, really, medical-grade silicone is the best way to go to prevent any kinds of infections from germs being harbored there), don’t use silicone-based lube as it can eat away at the toy. And when using condoms, don’t use oil-based lubricants like massage oils or Vaseline (which really shouldn’t be used as lube anyway) as they can break the condom. During sex, if you’re switching between partners or between different entrances, switch out the condom.
> 
> For oral and rimming, use a dental dam, which is basically a big latex sheet that you stretch out over the opening to act as a barrier between that area and your mouth. Don’t have a dental dam? That’s fine—most people don’t. Simply cut open a condom along the long side and lay it flat – lube side down to help it stick and also so you aren’t just lapping up lube…
> 
> Finally, even though fingering is relatively safe, using a glove makes it even safer, as infections can be spread if there are even micro-abrasions (cuts) on fingers and inside vaginas, mouths, anuses, etc. And for all of these things—condoms, dental dams, gloves—there are non-latex versions available if you’ve got allergies!
> 
> Play safe! And as awkward as bringing these things up can feel, just remember that the less stressed you are during sex, the easier it is to come!
> 
> Added later: from Rebellion_Bear: And for readers, if you're going to get checked for STIs, ask which ones they're testing for because GPs generally only text for about 3 and may leave out ones like HSV-1 and HSV-2 and you have to ask for them to be added. Having information and staying safe is super sexy!
> 
> Thanks to FadingEcho for pointing out that one of the terms I use, "fluid bonded" really isn't a commonly taught one. So for anyone curious, if you're fluid bonded, it means that you share bodily fluids. Most people don't consider something like kissing fluid bonding, since saliva is relatively low-risk in terms of infection transmission, so this generally means having some form of genital contact without barriers. Especially if you're in a poly or non-monogamous relationship, this is an important conversation to have, as being fluid bonded to someone means that you're opening yourself up to any risk that they might choose to take outside of your relationship as well.   
> Here's a link to a page about what Planned Parenthood terms, "Safer Sex," which has multiple linked pages within it: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/stds-hiv-safer-sex/safer-sex. I'll admit it skews heavily toward sex in which procreation is a possibility, but there are notes about dental dams and general notes about different kinds of STDs and STIs, as well as prevention and treatment.

“Fuck, Lucy,” Maggie groaned, watching as Lucy slid the condom down the strap on, then pumped her hand up and down the length of it, thoroughly coating it with lube and pushing it against Maggie’s clit with every thrust.

“You’re so hard for me,” Lucy purred, biting her lip at the low whimpers that filled the air. With how quick the transition from foreplay to sex was without Alex around to tease and turn on and tie up and make beg, Lucy sometimes forgot just how much Maggie enjoyed a bit of dirty talk. “I bet you’re dripping, right?”

“Yes,” Maggie gasped as Lucy pushed the curved base against her once more. “Please, Lucy, please.”

“Tell me what you want,” Lucy instructed. “Use your words.”

“You,” Maggie growled, gripping at Lucy’s hips as she positioned herself over Maggie.

“You can do better than that,” Lucy taunted, letting the tip of the toy tease at her entrance. 

“I want you to ride my cock,” Maggie managed, smirking as Lucy finally sank down onto her with a sinfully low moan. 

“Oh Rao!” Kara yelped, stumbling over her own cape in her hurry to try to turn around and fly back out the large bay windows before she saw any more of her sister. Only, as she went to fly away she realized she hadn’t actually seen her sister; there were only two other heartbeats currently racing in the apartment. “Hey!” she called out, angrily spinning back around with her arms folded across her chest. “Are you allowed to do that?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lucy quipped, ignoring the way that Maggie had attempted to bury herself in blankets, her face blushing a shade of red Lucy normally only saw on the Danvers sisters.

“And if I ask Alex, she’ll say the same?” Kara demanded, even as she kept her gaze trained firmly on the floor and her boots.

“I would imagine so, since she likes to ride Maggie’s cock just as much as I do,” Lucy teased, smirking at the way Kara spluttered and Maggie groaned. If the woman was going to continue to stand there and keep her from getting the sex she’d been craving all day and was so close to having, she was at least going to make her equally uncomfortable. 

“Not that,” Kara huffed. “I mean…you’re not, like, cheating on Alex, are you? By leaving her out, I mean.”

“Hey, no,” Maggie insisted, shaking her head as she popped up, sheets pulled firmly around her. “Hold on, can you just…just give us a second okay? We’ll get dressed really quickly.”

“Okay,” Kara mumbled, busying herself in the fridge and looking anywhere but at the bedroom behind her. “I’m sorry…I texted Alex, but I guess, she’s not, ya know, here…”

“Behave,” Maggie hissed at Lucy before calling out to Kara: “We’re decent!”

“We were perfectly decent for the privacy of our own apartment earlier,” Lucy shrugged, clearly not feeling all that guilty. 

“Kara?” Maggie said, her voice soft as she gestured for Kara to join her and Lucy in the living room. “Look, I don’t know how much Alex has talked to you about our relationship.”

“Mainly just some of the cute stories. I don’t, well, I don’t need to know that much about your sex life since I already see and hear more of it than I’d like.”

“If you would text before you arrived,” Lucy huffed, though she smiled and patted Kara’s shoulder good-naturedly.

“If you would stop having sex around the DEO,” Kara countered, looking a bit less frazzled now that she had realized her sister wasn’t part of the mix. 

“You know how hot your sister looks in that—” Lucy began.

“Nope! Not now. Not when I just saw your naked ass,” Kara cut her off.

“Oh my god. Did Kara just say ass?” Maggie laughed incredulously. 

“It’s been known to happen,” Kara huffed. “Point is: I’m frustrated and I need to know if you two are cheating on my sister. Because if you are, I’ve got super powers, ya know? I could leave you…wherever.”

“You could,” Maggie conceded. “But we’re not cheating on Alex. It’s hard to get all three people together at once in a triad. And we try! Right, we have date nights at least once a week, and we try to do a few home-cooked meals—or takeout on Alex’s nights—together every week. But we’ve all got crazy work schedules, and sometimes that means things don’t line up just right, so we do things like dates and meals and, yes, sex, with just two of us. But that’s actually good. Because as a unit, we’re only as strong as each pair of us is.”

“So…you’re saying sometimes you need time to just be a couple with Lucy?” Kara asked.

“Pretty much,” Lucy shrugged. “I knew Alex longer than I knew Maggie, so especially at the beginning, Alex encouraged us to go out on our own sometimes to make sure that we really got to know each other.”

“That…that makes sense,” Kara replied. 

“Mhm,” Maggie agreed. “Feeling a little better now?”

“Ready to leave us to it?” Lucy added with a cheeky wink.

“Ugh, yes, yes, I’m going.” But on her way to the window, Kara paused, shuffling her feet as she debated whether it was worth the embarrassment to stay and ask her question when Alex wasn’t around. Since she had already interrupted them, she figured it couldn’t get any worse. “Um, could I, uh, ask you a question?”

Recognizing that tone of voice as that of a nervous Danvers woman, Maggie quickly answered: “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I, uh, this is, well, you don’t have to answer, okay? It’s just, um, the other day when Alex and I were getting lunch, she had a condom in her wallet…and I though maybe it was just still in there from when she thought she was straight. But then, well, you’ve got a box of them and had one on something I’m fairly certain can’t get you pregnant.”

“Ah,” Maggie sighed, trying to figure out where to start.

“Safe sex,” Lucy answered simply.

“But aren’t you all…do you sleep with other people?”

“No,” Maggie shook her head, feeling the need to reassure Kara that they really weren’t going behind Alex’s back with anything. Sure, Kara had been nothing but supportive, but she also knew that a lot of the poly stuff was new for her. “There are other reasons to want to use condoms. I mean, for one, they already come with a bit of lube, so that makes things easier.” She didn’t add that it specifically made things easier for when her girlfriends had her go out packing and they fucked in hotels and bar bathrooms and DEO rooms that weren’t exactly stocked with lube. “And if you’re switching between partners, even when you’re all fluid-bonded, it can still be a good idea to either switch the toy or put on a fresh condom so that you don’t have to go wash it off between rounds.” She figured she probably didn’t need to tell Kara that all of this was absolutely necessary for anal; that might not be an image that Kara would get over soon (or something Alex would be comfortable revealing to her little sister). 

“Ah, okay,” Kara nodded in understanding. Even if she couldn’t quite hold eye contact, it was nice having people she could ask about these things, especially when there were so many contradictory pieces of advice on the internet. “So, um, hypothetically…if I were to only be using one of these, uh, strap ons on one person…say, Lena…would I need a condom?”

“Well, that depends on if you’re fluid bonded and have been tested for STDs or STIs. I’m assuming you probably can’t catch the human strains, but it’d be a good idea to have these conversations,” Maggie answered. 

“So she did that already, and she’s fine. And I’ve checked in with one of the DEO doctors—no, I don’t want to talk about it—and I’m fine. So…we don’t need to start buying condoms?”

As Maggie nodded, Lucy chimed in: “That depends.”

“On what?”

Ignoring Maggie’s less-than-subtle head shaking, Lucy continued: “On whether you’ll be sticking to one, uh, entrance, if you will.”

After a moment’s confusion, Kara flushed and, attempting to push nonexistent glasses up her face, shook her head rapidly. “No, nope, I think we’re just fine. Anyway! Been great talking to you—talk again later!” And with that, she was off.

“Lucy!” Maggie hissed. “Maybe Alex didn’t want us talking to her sister about anal!”

“One: she’s an adult; I think she already knew it was a thing. Two: she only said ‘I think,’ so for all we know, it’s already been mentioned as a possibility. Three: it wasn’t like I told her that her big sister likes a bit of double penetration from time to time. And, most importantly, four: it got her out of our damn apartment in a hurry!”

“I suppose I should give you credit for that last one,” Maggie sighed, watching as Lucy went and locked all of their windows before coming back to the table and dragging her toward the bedroom once more.

“Yeah. Wanna know how you can give me credit?”

“I imagine it’s something sexual,” Maggie teased.

“Take off your clothes and put back on the harness,” Lucy instructed, already pulling off her shirt.


	22. Bickering and Head Scratches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Adored your post w/head scratching as a fight ender. Could you do a short with this idea for one of your pairings/groupings? Maybe Supercorp (thought I'm not sure what they'd fight about?) Maybe Kara tells Alex it works and she tries it with Director Sanvers on one of her gfs is just like o_O wat are you doing?  
> [Refers to this post: https://sapphicscholarwrites.tumblr.com/post/165150100055/catanacomics-times-i-want-you-to-scratch-my]
> 
> A/N: Because last time T pointed out that I should let my girlfriend’s prompts skip the line (and she just admitted that this anonymous prompt was actually hers submitted while I was down in the gym)…you get this fluffy ficlet faster than usual bc apparently I’m whipped (and may or may not have been promised head scratches in return for a fast turnaround) 
> 
> So...the promised smutty chapter is coming in just a day or two, but that one required rewatching JDT's "Pony" dance a few times...for research, obviously for research (very professional and such)

“Your feet are so cold,” Kara huffed as Alex wriggled her toes under Kara’s legs. The cold didn’t affect her, but she wouldn’t be a good little sister if she didn’t complain.

“Shh, you’re a human furnace. Just warm them up for one minute?”

“Ugh, fine,” Kara relented, stealing back the carton of ice cream from Alex in retaliation. Now that they were caught up on Homeland she could devote all of her attention to finding the brownie bites still left in the carton. “So how are the girlfriends?” she asked between mouthfuls of chewy brownie.

“Good, good. All the performance evaluations at the DEO are due next week, so Lucy’s been a little…snippy recently. But it’s fine; we know it’ll be over soon enough.”

“Oh gosh, you know what is, like, a guaranteed way to end fights with your girlfriend?”

“Wait, are you admitting that you and Lena fight?” Alex gasped. Kara always gave her such shit for how much she and Maggie and Lucy bickered. It was, for the most part, fairly good-natured, their own way of showing each other that they cared without being overly sentimental about it. But next to Kara and Lena, who seemed to play the part of the perfect, well-mannered couple…well, the contrast became a bit obvious. 

“I wouldn’t call it fighting…”

“But you just did.”

“Hmm, I’m choosing to remove myself from this narrative.”

Rolling her eyes, Alex figured she might as well forge ahead: “Did you fight about kale? Did you tell her you got her a green juice and then hand her a mint chocolate chip ice cream shake again?”

“That was one time!” Kara huffed. “How was I supposed to know someone would be excited about drinking something made of kale and broccoli and cucumbers?” She shuddered at the memory of being forced to try one. Lena might have been able to get her to enjoy sweet potato fries, but the rest was a step too far. 

“Yes, yes, so are you going to tell me about this miracle cure for fighting or will I only learn after three easy payments of $29.99?” 

“You’re so funny,” Kara deadpanned. “But since you’re my sister…I guess I can tell you even though you’re rude.”

“You love me.”

“Despite the rudeness.”

“Definitely because of it.”

“This is why you bicker so much with your girlfriends.”

“Eh,” Alex shrugged. “We work.”

“Yes, yes, you’re all very cute together, even with the sarcastic comments and short jokes.”

“Thank you. Now tell me your magic trick.”

“Head scratches.”

“Excuse me? They’re not dogs.”

“I’m not suggesting you scratch their ears, Alex,” Kara huffed. “C’mon, remember when I was first getting used to being close to people and you would tickle my back?”

“Yeah, I’m not saying it’s not nice! I’m just saying, it’s something you do when you’re already all in a good mood together, like if you’re cuddling to watch a movie or go to bed or something.” Alex shook her head at just how far she’d come. If someone asked her a year or two ago where her life might be today, her answer would probably have involved a lot about the DEO, a few references to time spent with Kara, maybe some of Kara’s friends too. But to think that she’d have a girlfriend? That she’d have two girlfriends? That she would have learned to not simply tolerate intimacy but to crave it, even in the most banal of circumstances—a simple touch of hands while walking down the street, an arm looped around her waist while she poured her coffee, two quick kisses before they all headed out each morning for dangerous jobs—well, that would have been simply unthinkable.

“No, I get it, but trust me, it works! It was like a pause button or something. We were sitting next to each other, and she was a bit annoyed because I maybe…well, it doesn’t matter.”

“What’d you do?” Alex asked, narrowing her eyes as she tried to figure out exactly which of Kara’s guilty looks was playing about her face today. It didn’t look like the “I forgot my strength and broke something expensive look,” especially since Lena was rarely mad about things that were replaceable. It was sort of close to her “I ate the last of something delicious and feel bad because someone was mad but not bad enough to regret my choices” look, but something was…off about it.

“Um, I ripped her bra in half…for the third day in a row.”

“Ah,” Alex sighed, rolling her eyes and feeling rather lucky that the only time she’d had to repair any clothing after sex was once when Maggie had overenthusiastically ripped at a silk blouse, popping off half the buttons. “So she was mad but not that mad.”

“Oh…no, she was pretty mad. Did you know she only wears La Perla? And holy cow, Alex, have you seen how much they charge for a pair of underwear? It’s like…like, they better be made of gold or something! Or bulletproof. Or really comfortable…”

“Okay, okay, so moderately mad,” Alex conceded. 

“Anyway, we were sitting next to each other on the couch, and she was venting, and I just leaned over and started running my fingers through her hair because I know she likes it. And suddenly…poof, the conversation just stopped! She sort of closed her eyes and relaxed and it was like she couldn’t even remember why she was mad.”

“And you don’t think that’s…bad for your relationship do you?”

“No, I mean, it’s not like with Mon-El, if that’s what you’re asking. Because I still remember why she was mad, and I know to be better going forward. But I didn’t have to hear the lecture, and I made her happy, so win-win!” 

“Huh…I don’t know.”

“Trust me!”

\---

And Alex figured it wouldn’t hurt to try Kara’s advice. After all, this was hardly a fight worth having. Lucy was just in a bad mood because several departments were late about turning in their performance reviews, so she’d been stuck at the office far too long after skipping her lunch break for a meeting, and she’d taken it out on her girlfriends, snapping at them for being distracting when she needed to work from home because there “aren’t enough hours in the day, and you two don’t have to be so loud when you make out!” 

So Alex slipped in behind Lucy at her desk and apologized in a soft whisper, careful not to disturb her anymore. But while Lucy continued ranting about incompetence and no one letting her get any work done in the office or at home, Alex leaned forward and ran her fingers through Lucy’s hair, scratching lightly the way she knew Lucy liked when she curled up on the couch, her head in Alex’s lap and her hands resting on Maggie’s thighs.

“What the fuck?” Lucy asked, admittedly getting sufficiently distracted to stop muttering about how loud her girlfriends were. 

“Um…is this not helping?”

“Helping what? You’re just messing up my hair.”

“Oh, I, uh, I thought it would help you relax…”

“Why would that be?”

“Ooh do mine instead!” Maggie yelled from across the apartment, bouncing slightly on their bed as she grinned at Alex. “If she doesn’t appreciate it, she shouldn’t get to enjoy your magic hands.”

“I didn’t say I don’t enjoy Alex’s hands,” Lucy huffed, “but they were a surprise.”

“Yeah, right, sorry,” Alex mumbled, quickly extracting her hands and going back over to the bedroom where Maggie had now sprawled across the bed face-down, her shirt hiked up so that Alex could tickle her back. “One sec, okay?” Alex whispered to Maggie, pulling out her phone and sending a quick text to Kara: “Your trick does NOT work!”

She was too frustrated to reply when Kara sent back: “Works like a charm whenever Lena is mad. I’m sticking by it. Maybe you did it wrong?”

\---

The following Sunday, after the performance reviews had finally all been submitted and Lucy had gotten to sleep in late two days in a row, things felt like they were finally back to normal—at least close enough to normal that Alex was looking forward to having Kara and Lena over for brunch, rather than dreading how much time Lucy would lose with it. 

But, of course, she should have suspected that things were going too well. And she absolutely should have recognized the mischievous glint in Lena’s eyes when she turned to look at the Danvers sisters sitting side-by-side on one side of the table. “So,” she began, a smirk playing about her lips, “I hear you two have some trick for soothing your girlfriends. Care to share with the class?”

“What’s this, Danvers?” Maggie asked, not even bothering to hide her grin. 

“I don’t have any tricks,” Alex huffed. “Kara does.”

“Way to throw me under the bus!” Kara pouted. 

“It’d hurt the bus more than it’d hurt you,” Alex countered. 

“So what is it the great Kara Danvers does to put Lena in a good mood?” Maggie asked, looking at the blushing blonde. 

“I mean, I think we all know the answer to that one…” Lucy trailed off, figuring she would stay on her best manners and not point out the obvious today. 

“It’s not that! No, I just…first of all, how do you know?” Kara asked, turning to look at Lena.

“You literally texted Alex about a magic trick that you do whenever I’m angry.”

“Oh.” Kara fidgeted, playing with her glasses and trying to look innocent. “It’s nothing really…it’s just, you know, when you’re mad, sometimes it helps if I scratch your head.”

“Oh my god, is that what you were doing?” Lucy asked with a laugh, thinking back to how startled Alex had been when she called her out on it. 

“Maybe…”

“Ooh, try it on me next!” Maggie called out, raising her hand up and volunteering. 

“You’re not mad?” Alex checked. She’d worried a bit that it might sound deceitful. “Any of you?” She turned to look at Lena.

“No,” Lena assured her. “It’s part of being in a relationship. You figure out the little, easy ways to put your partner in a better mood, and they end up being the easiest ways to end the fights that don’t matter as much.”

“Wait…what do you do for me?” Kara asked suddenly looking curious.

Lena just laughed and shook her head. “A good magician never reveals her tricks.”

While they were cleaning up, though, Maggie sidled up to Lena at the sink. “It’s food, right?”

“Duh.”


	23. Drag Kings and Lap Dances and Smut, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Iamsuperconfused: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfMKnJ1y2o (Jenna Dewan Tatum (AKA Lucy Lane) is the one dancing) she surprises her girls one night at a club or at home. Bonus for Maggie losing her mind about this (In a good way).
> 
> Prompt from go-sullivan: I'm tackling your Stronger Together Drabble series. I didn't know there was that many. And I'm already like I hope there’s a Director Sanvers spin to what happened in the Drag Show. Yes. The first Drabble got me like I need this in my life. I mean there's so many guess I'll have to find out. Thanks for being awesome.  
> [Refers to Stronger Together Chapters 1-3 - http://archiveofourown.org/works/10724550/chapters/23763651, which aren’t necessary to read to understand this one, but the events of chapters 1 and 2 do form the basis for the opening “plot” here]

“Alright, my kings and queens and everywhere in betweens, are you ready to welcome back to the stage your King and Queen of National City?” Donna announced, pausing as the already rowdy crowd went wild, cheering and wolf-whistling. “I present to you: Pandora and Officer Sawyer!”

“Ow, oww!” Alex yelled out, laughing as James got up on his tippy-toes to make sure he got the best photos of Maggie’s cocky swagger out onto the stage. Since “Duke” hadn’t been able to make this particular event, Donna called Maggie and asked if, as last year’s runner-up, she wouldn’t mind stepping in for the evening just to MC the Project Trevor talent show fundraiser. Maggie, who already had a hard time saying no to a good cause and an even harder time saying no to Donna in particular, quickly found herself agreeing and dragging out her Officer Sawyer drag king costume from the year before. 

As Pandora curtseyed and blew kisses to the crowd, Maggie simply inclined her head slightly, touching the brim of her snapback and winking in the general direction of where she’d left Alex. “These two will be your MCs for the evening, so I expect you to be on your very best behavior,” Donna instructed, grinning as she was met with howls of laughter. “As a reminder, unless it’s your friend up on stage, there’s to be no photography or recording, and silence those damn phones before I come snatch them from you! Now, without further ado, I leave you in the capable hands of your King and Queen.”

Stepping forward, Pandora took the microphone first, going over the schedule of performances for the evening and reminding everyone that the donations were all going to a good cause, so keep that cash flowing. “Now…are you ready for your first performer?”

“Yes!” the crowd roared.

“I don’t think I believe you…it sounds like only these boys up front really want to hear from Divine. I want to hear it from you butches in the back, come on,” Pandora called out with an infectious smile that coaxed cheers out of even the quietest of the attendees. Finally content with the level of excitement in the room, Pandora motioned for Divine to come out on stage and give them all her best rendition of “It’s Raining Men.”

\---

As they came up on the one hour mark, Alex moved to go get a drink, only to have James and Lena reach out to keep her in the front of the crowd with them. “Guys,” Alex whined, “I love the drag queens, you know I do, but I’ve heard enough Cher and Mariah Carey and Paula Abdul to last a lifetime. I could use another whiskey. Plus, you heard Donna, it’s going to a good cause,” Alex added, feeling that she had a winning argument for sure. 

“Just stay through one more song, then I’ll come with you, okay?” Lena offered, patting Alex’s back as she kept her as close to front and center as they could get. 

Grumbling, Alex flipped open her program. “Why is it so important we see…Magic Mike perform? Oh my god, is it Mon-El?” 

“What talent would he perform?” Lena asked with a loud laugh. “Watch me mix drinks and flex?”

“We’ve seen worse,” Alex shrugged, earning a laugh from Winn.

“Just wait it out with me, okay?”

“Fine,” Alex sighed, dropping her head to rest against James’ shoulder. Between Maggie’s having been enlisted to MC and Lucy’s having been called in to cover for J’onn the DEO, Alex was feeling a little lonely in the crowd. Sure, it was nice to be with everyone else, but it was even nicer having her girls around her. 

“Now let’s welcome Magic Mike to the stage!” Maggie announced, biting her lip as she caught Lena’s eyes.

For a moment, Alex’s gaze was a little too fixated on the very nice arms of the newest performer to notice that she knew those arms, that she knew that woman. But her jaw dropped as soon as she let her gaze rove up from the toned arms to the cocky little smile playing about Magic Mike’s mouth. Because there was Lucy, grinning out at the crowd from beneath a backwards red hat as she flexed—her arms out on full display in a ribbed white tank top over a pair of navy sweatpants. 

She motioned for a few members of the stage crew to drag out a couple of props—what looked like a workbench and a handful of construction tools, though what they were for, Alex couldn’t even fathom…not that her brain was really operating beyond the level of: “Lucy…Lucy is super hot…Lucy is up on stage…Lucy’s arms are up on stage…”

As the opening notes of “Pony,” rang out, Lucy strutted her way over to the work bench, grabbing what looked like a long metal rod as she slid down the bench and proceeded to slowly and rhythmically stroke up and down the rod, causing Alex to choke on the beer she’d stolen out of Winn’s hand. And then the rod was gone and it was all Lucy—Lucy’s hips thrusting up into the air, the expression on her face as she bit her lip all too familiar. 

As she continued to dance, Alex chanced a glance over at Maggie, only to find her mouth hanging open as she took in the sight. Apparently even though she knew Lucy would be performing, she hadn’t known exactly what it would entail either. Maggie watched with bated breath as Lucy slid on her knees across the stage, grinning as she was met with loud whoops from the crowd, many of whom had reached out desperately trying to touch her. Deliberately staying just out of their reach, Lucy locked eyes with Alex as she shimmied her shirt up, showing off abs that still had Alex drooling, no matter how often she got to see and touch and lick her way up them. 

As Lucy made her way back to the bench, playfully pretending to lick at some of the more…phallic tools, Alex felt herself being suddenly guided toward the front, then lifted onto the stage as Lucy grinned wickedly at her and Maggie continued to look too shocked to even try to form thoughts, let alone words. 

“C’mere,” Lucy mouthed at Alex, setting her up on the workbench and winking at Maggie as she once more rolled her shirt up before dropping to the ground—something that Alex expected to look athletic, maybe muscular, but not nearly so graceful as Lucy made it look—all lithe muscle and contained, fluid movements. As she proceeded to roll her hips into the ground, Maggie and Alex both found themselves gulping, thinking of other times they’d seen her moving like that—though normally she had a firm body beneath her, rather than the ground. 

But just as quickly as she had hit the ground, she was back up again, strutting over toward the MCs for the night and dropping it low in front of Maggie, resting her hands on Maggie’s shoulders as she swayed back up, taking care to grope at the silicone package in Officer Sawyer’s pants before making her way back to Alex, choosing to ignore the strangled whimper Maggie had let out, though resolving to come back to it when exploring fantasies later. 

Too busy staring at her girlfriends, Alex barely even noticed Lucy strutting back over to the work bench until she suddenly found Lucy gracefully swinging one leg over her lap and planting both feet on either side of her hips. She groaned—too turned on to care that her friends, though blessedly not her sister, were out in the crowd, too turned on to even remember the damn crowd—as Lucy threaded her fingers through her hair and thrust her hips into Alex’s face before pulling back, leaving Alex flushed a deep shade of red, her hair sticking up at odd angles, and a completely blissed out expression on her face. 

Before Alex could even react, Lucy had her hands on the ground and her legs around Alex’s head. And, oh, this felt too much like a night spent in their bedroom for being out in public. And just as suddenly, Lucy had somehow flipped herself back into Alex’s lap—and, damn, Alex really needed to figure out what workouts she was doing with Vasquez out at the desert base. 

Holding eye contact with Maggie, who was chugging the water that had been set out for the MCs like she’d been in a desert for months, Lucy sank down into Alex’s lap, then grabbed Alex’s hands, drawing them up her torso and across her chest, wondering if Alex could feel just how hard her nipples were through her bra. With a mischievous smirk on her lips, Lucy bent over, dragging her free hand up Alex’s leg, feeling a surge of satisfaction at the shudder she could feel run through Alex’s body, before groping at Alex’s crotch for a good two beats, trying not to make it obvious that she’d just heard her girlfriend moaning from underneath her, from just two small touches, in front of a crowd of hundreds of people. Figuring it would be best to keep the attention on her and off of her surely scarlet-cheeked girlfriend, Lucy ripped her shirt in half, effectively drawing every single set of eyes back to her, then carelessly threw the remnants to Maggie before sliding across the stage as the last beat of the song hit. 

As the crowd roared in appreciation, Lucy had eyes only for her girls—both of whom very obviously only had eyes for her as well.

Noting that Officer Sawyer was far too distracted to try to MC at the moment, Pandora pulled the microphone out and announced a 10-minute intermission to allow everyone a chance to pull out their checkbooks and refresh their drinks before they brought out the last few performers of the evening. 

Figuring Maggie and Lucy had probably contributed enough to the charitable cause for the evening (and knowing the sheer fact of having brought Lena ensured that they’d meet their donation goals for the night anyway), Alex didn’t even pretend to be interested in making her way over to the volunteers scattered throughout the room, instead following Lucy to the back, intent on getting her hands on her once more—this time perhaps in front of fewer people. 

\---

“Just so you know, we owe Pandora a bottle of wine for covering for me,” Maggie piped up from the backseat after failing to call shotgun on time. 

“Hush, there was a real emergency that only Officer Sawyer could handle,” Lucy insisted, winking at Maggie from beneath her red baseball hat. 

“I think Magic Mike will prove indispensable too,” Alex shrugged, trying not to dwell on just how sexy both of her girlfriends looked at the moment and focus instead on the road, on getting them back to the apartment as fast as humanly possible. 

Lucy, however, had other ideas when it came to where Alex’s thoughts should be. “Yeah? You did seem rather…enthusiastic about my dance. If I had stayed there just a little longer, kept my hands on you for just a few more seconds, would you have come for me? In front of all those people…” Lucy drawled. 

Only, to Lucy’s surprise, it wasn’t Alex who broke. No, the keening whine came from Maggie, and Lucy turned around in time to catch her fingers working at her zipper. “Uh-uh,” Lucy taunted, shaking her head and reaching back to still Maggie’s hands. “Wait until we’re home. Alex was so good for us, waiting in the crowd all alone, letting us drag her up on stage. I think she deserves us both in costume…maybe we’ll put on some private performances for her.”

Alex was just about white-knuckling the steering wheel by that point, and the whimpers coming from the backseat were absolutely not helping. Trying to focus, she kept up a steady mantra with the directions back to her apartment: “Right in a quarter of a mile. Straight for 12 blocks. Left turn. Three blocks. Slight right. Park. Fuck.” 

\---

As soon as the door was shut and locked behind them, Maggie had Lucy up against the wall, her hands anywhere and everywhere as Alex just grinned at the show. 

“Officer,” Lucy panted as Maggie’s fingers dipped below her waistband. A thousand different pick up lines—lines about strip searches and “what seems to be the problem” and handcuffs and their uses—ran through Lucy’s head, but she couldn’t find it within herself to break the mood with something playful—not when Maggie had gone full top too, not when she suspected they might be able to give Alex the night of her life. 

“Fuck,” Maggie growled, dropping her lips down to Lucy’s neck and sucking hard enough to leave marks, knowing she’d pay the price in Lucy’s whining the next morning but not caring enough to stop. 

Alex whimpered at the sight of Lucy cupping at Maggie’s crotch, finally drawing her girlfriends’ attention back to her. Their matching smirks were almost predatory as they advanced on her.

“You okay?” Lucy checked, getting an enthusiastic nod in response from Alex.

“But I don’t want to wait, okay?” Because, god, she’d already waited for hours—waited through Maggie getting dressed and strutting her stuff on stage, waited through Lucy’s performance and fucking lap dance, waited that torturously long drive home—and the idea of waiting, even if it meant being good for her girls, was just too much tonight. 

“Well then why don’t we make the rule that you should try to come as much as you can, as much as feels good for you, hm?” Lucy suggested, biting her lip at the grin on Maggie’s face. 

“Yes, yes, definitely yes,” Alex agreed, feeling herself being swept into the bedroom by two sets of hands, which just as quickly set to work in discarding her clothing, leaving her completely naked, chest heaving and veins coursing with want, sprawled across their bed. 

“What do you want first?” Maggie rasped, already pulling off her own shirt and turning to have Lucy help her take off the binder before they got into any kind of heavier exertion. “Do you want my mouth? My hands? My cock?”

She wanted them all, didn’t have the words, felt herself slipping into the headspace of just wanting, needing, trusting her girlfriends to give her exactly what her body deserved even if she couldn’t put words to it. So instead she just whimpered and dragged Maggie toward her, muttering, “Green,” as her lips found Maggie’s. 

By the time Maggie was left in nothing but the harness, Lucy too had undressed, stripping down to just the tight navy boxer briefs she’d picked up for her performance. “Wait, but…but you two should get something too,” Alex mumbled, realizing they’d only talked about what she wanted. 

“No,” Lucy grinned, shaking her head. “Tonight why don’t you let Officer Sawyer and Magic Mike take care of you?” The nicknames drew a laugh from Alex, though the sight of her two very toned girlfriends advancing on her quickly turned the giggling into whimpering. 

And whimpering soon turned to sighing as Lucy guided Alex further up the bed, coming to rest between her legs as Maggie focused on her chest, four hands roaming the expanses of exposed skin, soft moans soon filling the room. Her first orgasm came almost embarrassingly quickly, Lucy’s tongue having barely made contact with her clit before she tumbled over the edge, and the second and third followed not too long after as Lucy’s ministrations continued without interruption, her tongue flicking between her folds and swirling up and around her clit. 

And then Lucy’s tongue was being replaced by Maggie’s fingers, and Lucy was up and at eye-level, checking in to make sure she was still okay, capturing her lips in a heated kiss when she panted out, “Yes” and, “Please.” By the time she was clenching and shuddering around Maggie’s fingers, Alex could feel herself dripping, arousal coating the inside of her thighs. 

As Maggie went to get the lube and a condom, Lucy let her fingers drift down Alex’s abs, feeling them tense and jump beneath her touch, smirking as Alex’s whole body seemed to arch into her. But then Maggie was back, and Lucy withdrew her hand, opting to cup at Alex’s breasts, nipping at her neck and earlobes and whispering all the filthy things she still wanted to do to Alex—kept whispering even as Alex’s whole body tensed, her fingers curling into the sheets and her back arcing off the mattress—didn’t stop until Alex was begging Lucy to come up and sit on her face.

“Tonight’s about you, Alex,” Lucy whispered, her fingers caressing Alex’s cheek. “I promise, you can take care of me as much as you want tomorrow. Tonight you should relax, let us take care of you.”

“But what if I want to taste you,” Alex reasoned. “What if it’ll make me come faster if I get to eat you out while Maggie fucks me?”

And, really, who was Lucy to say no to that logic? So she swung a leg over Alex’s shoulder, smirking at Alex’s snarky remark about just how familiar this felt, though her teasing comments died on her tongue as soon as she felt the ghost of Alex’s hot breath on her pussy, the press of Alex’s lips to her clit, Alex’s tongue darting out to taste her. Because then she was too far gone, too lost in the sound of Maggie’s soft grunts, the slap of heated skin on heated skin as Maggie fucked Alex hard and fast, the feeling of Alex’s tongue between her legs and her short nails digging into her ass. And then Maggie was coming, and the telltale gasp pushed her over the edge, left her grinding down hard against Alex’s tongue until with a final full-body shudder she collapsed into the bed next to Alex just in time to watch her come, Maggie’s arms coming up to wrap around her, holding her close as she rode out her orgasm. 

It took several minutes before any of them had caught their breath enough to manage words. And even then it was just mumbled out half-coherent thoughts, like, “So good,” and, “We should get water,” and “You were amazing, and, god, so were you.” And eventually—after Lucy got them water, having lost their tournament style rock paper scissors game, and Maggie stumbled out of bed to check the doors—they fell asleep, limbs tangled together, the remnants of their costumes still strewn about the room.


	24. Director Sanvers in London

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from @recklesslove13 for a Director Sanvers fic centered around the Instagram photos of JDT…I think we all know which ones, but here’s a link in case you needed/wanted a reminder (https://www.instagram.com/p/BZLnfcKH6Ne/?taken-by=jennadewan; https://www.instagram.com/p/BZJvLTpnbxL/?taken-by=jennadewan)
> 
> This is, uh, on the smutty side, but compared to last chapter also pretty tame? Because so much plot happened (and runs the gamut from fluff to angst)
> 
> Also if anyone happens to notice the most subtle of movie scene allusions in here, we’re officially best friends forever.

“How did it take us this long to go on a real vacation together?” Alex sighed as she rolled over in the king-sized bed—not quite the California king they had back home, but they made do—of their hotel room to face Maggie, who had been the first to stir for a change. Of course, the fact that she’d actually managed to sleep on their flight to London had probably helped. Ever since the near crash on her way to Geneva, Alex didn’t sleep on planes, liked to stay alert enough to know that she’d be able to call for Supergirl’s help before it was too late, and Lucy was too used to the constant thrum of adrenaline coursing through her veins from her days of traveling with the army to settle in on a flight. As hard as Maggie tried to stay awake and be there for her girls, after several long days of overtime and late nights to wrap up her cases before they left, she was out by the time they hit cruising altitude.

“Let’s think, Danvers…” Maggie mused, grinning lazily over at Alex as she propped herself up on her elbow. “You have one workaholic detective girlfriend and one workaholic director girlfriend, and then, oh yeah, you’re a workaholic federal agent. The most we’ve taken off from work at one time has been the two days we were forced to stay home when we all caught that nasty alien flu and the handful of mornings we decided sex was more urgent than paperwork and rogue aliens.”

Reasoning that Maggie’s cocky smirk was too much this early in the day, Alex leaned over and kissed her softly, feeling the smirk slowly fall away as Maggie drew Alex into her. She hadn’t intended for it to turn into anything, but when Maggie rolled over onto her back, Alex couldn’t help following, couldn’t help holding Maggie close as their legs tangled together.

“You’re stealing the blankets,” Lucy grumbled, her voice muffled in the pillows as she angrily yanked on the comforter to try to stay as warm and snuggled as she had been before her girlfriends decided to wake her up at some godawful early hour.

“Good morning to you too, dear,” Alex greeted, rolling off of Maggie and propping herself up to better regard Lucy—or rather, the lump under the covers where she figured Lucy’s head would be.

“Tired.”

“Articulate,” Maggie teased, pulling herself up and trying to gently pry the covers down and away from Lucy’s face.

“We didn’t all roleplay Sleeping Beauty on the flight over here, Sawyer.”

“Aww, but you’re saying I’m beautiful? I’m flattered.”

“Actually, there was quite a bit of drool, but whatever you need to tell yourself…”

“And for that—” Before Lucy could register what those three vaguely threatening words could mean, she felt an overly alert detective springing across the bed and pouncing on top of her.

“Stop!” Lucy cried out, though Alex and Maggie could both hear the laugh in her voice. “Get off my stomach! I have to pee!”

Lucy was saved from her fate by Alex, who decided that Maggie really was a bit too perky for the early hour and, coming to stand beside her on the bed, scooped her up into her arms—squirming limbs and all—and dragged her into the kitchenette.

“My savior,” Lucy called after her, finally pulling herself out of bed and smoothing down the hair sticking up at odd angles.

“Anytime, Luce,” Alex offered with a mock salute, keeping one arm firmly wrapped around Maggie’s waist, though she’d trusted her enough to put her back on the ground.

Eventually they managed to settle down with cups of coffee in the small living room area. “So, what are our plans for today?” Alex asked, sound a bit more Agent Danvers than girlfriend Alex.

“Uh, what’s the weather?”

After a few moments of looking between each other, Alex finally dragged herself up and off the couch to go find her phone and look it up. “It’s gonna rain most of the day. Also, Kara has asked us to look for the Spice Girls for her and see if they’d be down for a meet and greet with Supergirl. She thinks it could be a smart PR move for all parties.”

“I’m sure Cat Grant would love to get that on the cover of CatCo Magazine,” Lucy snorted, just thinking about the sales a stunt like that would garner.

“So other than tracking down five former superstars, what do we want to do today?” Maggie asked, pulling her legs beneath her and looking forlornly as storm clouds slowly but surely gathered in the sky.

“I mean, if it’s gonna rain…” Alex trailed off, barely concealing a grin.

“Yes, nerd, we know you want to do all the museums.” Maggie rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t quite hide her expression of endearment.

“It just seems like the perfect opportunity, you know.”

“It also seems like the perfect opportunity for exploring Harrod’s…” Lucy grinned over her mug, even though she knew that when it came to shopping for anything other than leather jackets (or the vast array of skinny jeans just seemed to appear out of thin air on a semi-regular basis), her girlfriends were all too likely to remember that they had so many things they had forgotten to do, and dammit, they really needed to get to the office right away.

“Mhm, so museums! I think we could all agree on the British Museum—it’s got something for all of us.” And then Alex was pulling out a list that looked like something Kara would compile before a vacation.

“I want to go to the Tower of London,” Maggie called out, knowing that if she and Lucy didn’t stake a claim early on in the process, they’d find themselves following Alex through the streets of London for days on end as she indulged the nerdiest parts of her personality.

“Would’ve thought the Clink Prison would be first on your list,” Alex teased.

“It’s second.”

“Right…well, I want to make it to the Science Museum, duh, and then the Wellcome Collections. Did you know they have Darwin’s walking stick? And then—”

“Hey, Danvers, maybe we let Lucy add a few to the list? Unless you’ve already got suggestions for her,” Maggie teased, though Alex just nodded, and began rattling off a list that started with the National Army Museum and the BFI.

Finally cutting in—and damn, this jetlag must really be getting to her, Lucy thought, if it had taken her this long to intervene, though there was something cute about watching Alex nerd out—Lucy added, “I want to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Also that Tate—both of them.”

“So…are we gonna split up or spend our whole trip inside?” Maggie laughed, but part of her thought that may well end up happening, at least judging by the length of Alex’s list and how long Lucy could linger in art museums.

“I guess we could split up for some of it,” Alex shrugged. “Maybe we start the day together, do lunch, then spend the afternoon on our own?”

“Works for me.”

“Me too.”

So they got dressed and found umbrellas and eventually made their way outside and down to the T to head over to the Tower of London—one of the things they’d all wanted to see.

\---

“Look, I just think it’s dumb to spend that much money on tea and tiny sandwiches,” Maggie huffed.

Crossing her arms across her chest, Lucy glared. “I’ve been pretty quiet about all the gay bars you want to waste time in when we’ve got plenty of them back in the US. At least I want to do something that’s culturally relevant.”

“They’re not just bars! There’s a whole history, Lucy—a history of our people, in case you didn’t remember that bit.”

“That’s not the point! The point is that I said yes to all of your shit, and the first thing I mentioned that wasn’t at the top of your list was an automatic no.”

“You want to spend almost £200 on tea. That’s some rich white people shit right there.” She was too keyed up to pause and think about how things might sound to Lucy, too lost in memories of dating the rich girls back in college and desperately trying to save enough from her on- and off-campus jobs to take them on the dates they wanted, even if it meant living off of peanut butter and off-brand nutrition bars for a few days and staying up until 3am after finishing her shift at the restaurant to be able to get her homework done to keep her scholarship, then getting yelled at because she wasn’t available 24/7 for the girls she was so desperately trying to please. And it didn’t matter that Lucy wasn’t remotely like that, even if she did have expensive taste. It didn’t matter that Lucy was normally good about not pressuring Maggie into things, even if she had a fairly substantial savings account built up from years of living with the kind of ingrained mentality of saving every penny to be able to survive after the other shoe inevitably dropped and the people in her life realized she wasn’t worth the sacrifices they had to make or the trouble she caused.

“Fine, then you can have fun out at the dive bars without me,” Lucy said, her tone clipped and her voice dangerously low as she carefully folded her napkin, kissed Alex on the cheek, and made her way out of the restaurant without a second look, refusing to give in to the temptation to let Alex coax her back to the table. Because going back to the table would mean sitting there and having to explain why High Tea meant something to her, having to get into painful memories from childhood, from the last family vacation before Lois and her father stopped talking altogether, when Lois had taken her out for tea and promised her that they would still be sisters no matter what—of course, that hadn’t seemed particularly true in the years when Lucy took her father’s side, when she trusted his judgment and fell in line under his command. But that memory was one of the few things that had remained untainted—something Lucy clung to in those uncertain weeks after she finally stepped out from under her father’s shadow and had to figure out who she was without the boyfriend and the family and the institution she’d come to shape her identity around over the years. And, dammit, Maggie wasn’t owed an explanation. She should be allowed to want to do things without having to justify them to one of the women who supposedly loved her.

Back in the restaurant, Maggie sat, scowling at the plate in front of her. “Mags,” Alex said tentatively, her voice soft, “do you want to talk about what just happened?”

“No.”

So instead they sat there in silence, both of them frustrated—Maggie with Lucy and Alex with both of her stubborn girls. Eventually Alex cleared her throat. “Does this have to do with that conversation early on in our relationship, back when it was just the two of us? Back when I thought I needed to take you to fancy restaurants for dates?”

“Maybe.”

“Maggie, c’mon, I don’t have to go report back to Lucy, but it would help me to understand where you’re coming from.”

“Fine. I just—it’s so much money when we already dug into our savings to take the trip. Plus we’re using leave, and what if we need it in the future, you know? And then we’d have to take unpaid leave, and then we’d deplete our savings, and what if there was an emergency?”

Hearing Maggie begin to spiral, Alex cut in: “Maggie, between the three of us, we have so much saved up. We have good jobs, and we don’t splurge too often. Trust me, I listen when you talk, I have heard you when you talk about how you feel like everything could change in a moment, but we have so many people looking out for us now who know us and love us for everything about us. I know I can’t promise nothing will ever happen to us, but we have support networks and savings and enough leave for literal years. And…I don’t think splurging on one tea that I suspect means more to Lucy than she let on at first is going to undo all of that.”

“She was rude about my stuff too,” Maggie countered, knowing she sounded very much the part of the petulant child but still too offended to care.

“Yeah, and in the same way that we don’t know exactly why she was invested in High Tea, she probably doesn’t get why these gay bars matter to you. I only found out that you were a big nerd about all that stuff later.”

“It’s nice to know that we have a history going back centuries,” Maggie shrugged. “It matters.”

“I know, I get it. And I bet Lucy would too if you told her.”

“Maybe.”

“She would.”

“I guess. I think I need a little time by myself first.”

“Okay, that’s fine. But don’t go doing anything stupid! Just go nerd out about Oscar Wilde and all of his gay friends, mkay?”

“Fine, fine.”

\---

“What are you doing here?” Maggie whispered, watching as Lucy slipped into a seat in her row, though she left an empty one in between them.

“What are you doing here?” Lucy countered, arching an eyebrow.

“Same as you, I expect,” Alex chimed in, making her way down the row behind them. “Thought I might find you two here.”

“Yeah, well…we’ve got some history with this one.” Maggie gestured at the ticket for Carol and tried to sound nonchalant, though Alex and Lucy both knew her too well to overlook the emotion in her voice.

“Mhm, because ‘some history’ is enough for us to all drag our asses out in the rain to a screening of a movie we already own.” Lucy shook her head; she really didn’t know which one of her girlfriends was more stubborn.

“You wanna come down here, Danvers?” Maggie offered. “Lane left an empty seat.”

Before Lucy could make some quip about the seat being for Maggie’s ego or the giant chip on her shoulder, Alex hoisted herself over the row and slipped into the seat, hoping no one would yell at her for climbing on the seats the way the theater manager back in Midvale used to do when she and Kara would inevitably end up moving further and further away from the screen and speakers when the sound and action got to be too much for Kara.

“Sorry,” Maggie finally muttered, keeping her voice quiet even though the movie hadn’t started yet.

“Thanks,” Lucy mumbled back.

“We can do the tea thing.”

“And I’ll go with you to the bars and all. I, uh, picked you up a book about their history while I was out today.” Lucy slipped a small package wrapped in brown paper over to Maggie.

After a moment of silence, Maggie leaned over Alex and pulled Lucy in for a kiss, holding her hands and trying to make Lucy feel everything she felt—the regret for how quickly she’d snapped, the gratitude for thinking of her, the love she felt for this woman, even if she did want to spend a fortune on little cream cheese sandwiches.

Eventually Alex nudged them apart. “I don’t mean to break up the party, but the movie is starting…”

“Fine,” Lucy huffed. “But for that you come last tonight.”

\---

After the movie, since the rain had finally stopped, Maggie suggested that they get “chips,” affecting a rather terrible cockney accent that had Lucy pretending she didn’t know her and Alex rolling her eyes and shaking her head, and they spent a while talking and laughing and eating far too much while perched on a damp bench on the banks of the Thames.

Eventually they’d made it back to their room, and Lucy and Maggie had both agreed that, despite Lucy’s threats to make her wait, Alex deserved a reward for putting up with their shit all day. And for once, Alex thought there just might be some benefit to be gained from Lucy and Maggie’s bickering.

\---

The next morning, Alex woke up to Maggie gently shaking her and motioning for her to be quiet. Carefully, Alex slipped out from under the covers and stretched her slightly sore muscles before joining Maggie in the living room. “What’s up?” she whispered.

“I need your help.”

“With what?”

“Apparently you need to make reservations for High Tea in advance, at least at some of the better places and especially if you’ve got dietary restrictions.”

“Some of us can eat dairy…” Alex trailed off, grinning at Maggie, who just pouted.

“Point being: the actual tea thing will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest. But I want Lucy to see that I care about her, you know? That I listened.”

“Uh-huh, and? I still don’t see why I’m awake.”

“Ugh, just listen to me, would ya? I went out and bought some fancy tea and got a few mugs and a kettle from down at the front desk”—it was only then that Alex noticed the small display Maggie had set up on the table along with a card for Lucy with a note written in fine black pen in the careful cursive Maggie had learned from her years in Catholic school—“but I don’t know where to find all the little snacks you eat with it. Help me?”

As much as Alex wanted to say no, to insist that they could go back to bed and let the tea be enough of a gesture along with the reservation for the next day, she had such a hard time saying no to Maggie’s big brown eyes or the idea of doing something so nice for Lucy. So she found herself nodding and hoping no one at the DEO ever found out that she could be such a decent person when she wanted to be.

“Yay!” Maggie cheered quietly, motioning to the outfit she’d already plucked from the dresser on the assumption that Alex wouldn’t be able to say no to her.

\---

When Lucy woke up, she was confused at the cold, empty bed. “Maggie? Alex?” she called out, getting no reply. God, it would be just like her girlfriends to drag themselves out of bed early to go for a run or something even on vacation. But when she stumbled out of the bedroom, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she found a small display set up along with a note from Maggie:

“ _Dear Lucy,_

_If we’re still not back when you wake up…oops. I underestimated how long it would take us and how late you would sleep. But fear not! Part of your surprise is ready to go. So make yourself a cup of tea, and I promise we’ll be back soon enough._

_Love,_   
_Maggie_

_P.S. Sorry for being an ass._ ”

Lucy surveyed the assortment of teas that Maggie had left out for her to choose from, biting her lip to keep from smiling too broadly when she realized that the woman had picked up pretty much every tea she’d ever mentioned liking. While the water boiled, Lucy made her way into the bedroom, figuring one nice surprise deserved another…

\---

As Maggie and Alex made their way through the front door with their groceries, Maggie was quick to point out that the tea had been made, which meant Lucy was awake. “Lucy, we’re home!” Maggie called out, making her way into the bedroom. Before she yell out and ask where the woman had gone, she heard the sound of something hitting the ground and came out to find Alex’s bag of groceries on the ground, a (blessedly unbroken) jar of jam rolling across the floor.

“That’s, uh, quite the view…” Alex managed, her mind still struggling to form coherent thoughts as she transitioned from grocery shopping mode to taking in the sight of her girlfriend holding a mug of tea and perched on the wrought iron chair wearing nothing but something black and lacy and revealing and classy and perfect that she had most definitely never seen before.

“Mm, isn’t it?” Lucy mused, the corner of her mouth curling up as she stood to take in the vista as if Alex could possibly be talking about the stunning view of the city.

It was at that moment that Maggie finally made her way over to the door, finding Lucy’s rather perfect ass on full display—looking even better than it already did thanks to some impossibly high heels that brought her up to Alex’s height. And for once, complaining about being the shortest was the absolute last thing on Maggie’s mind. In fact, she had very few things on her mind that didn’t reduce to: Lucy. Lace. Lingerie. Lucy.

“Are you two coming?” Lucy drawled, spinning around to face them—all sheer fabric and long legs.

“I’m sure I could be soon,” Maggie admitted, not bothering to hide her appreciation for whatever such a garment could be called.

“I believe I was promised a proper High Tea…”

“Well, yeah,” Alex hedged. “But let’s be honest, the sandwiches tomorrow are probably gonna be so much better than whatever Maggie and I throw together…so they could probably wait an hour…”

“Or two,” Maggie shrugged.

“Or three,” Lucy purred. “It is vacation, after all.”

“That is—yeah, that’s true.” And then Alex couldn’t wait any longer, couldn’t watch Lucy’s own fingers drumming against her thigh when it could be Alex’s hands there, her tongue there. In one swift, sure movement, Alex had Lucy’s legs wrapped around her waist, her lips on her neck as she carried her back through the suite and into the bedroom. “You look so good,” Alex panted as she pressed Lucy into the wall, feeling the pressure of Lucy’s heels pressing into her ass.

Lucy could only nod as Alex’s lips found their way to hers and she felt Maggie’s hands sliding up her thigh, teasing at the edge of the fabric. She groaned loudly as she felt Alex pushing into her, felt her abs tensing, and felt more than heard the low murmured “fuck” when Maggie’s lips found the back of Alex’s neck, her hands tangling in her hair.

“Wanna come first this time, Luce?” Maggie asked, her voice low and thick with desire as she looked at Lucy from behind Alex’s shoulder.

Normally Lucy liked to watch her girls come first, liked to feel how much wetter she got as she watched them, heard the sounds of their moans filling the room. But this time she couldn’t help the way her body reacted to Maggie’s suggestions, her hips rolling into Alex’s stomach, shamelessly grinding against her tensed abs as Alex’s hands groped at her ass.

It was a half-swallowed whimper from Maggie—Maggie who had tried to wait, but found she needed something, some pressure to relieve the insistent ache between her legs, her fingers moving quickly beneath her boyshorts and her free hand falling to the wall to keep her upright—that finally pushed Lucy over the edge. She came with a gasping breath, her head falling to Alex’s shoulder and perking up only at the sound of Maggie’s own cry as she followed not long after Lucy.

When she’d finally managed to catch her breath, Lucy demanded: “Clothes off. Both of you.”

Alex was only too happy to comply when she caught sight of the look in Lucy’s eyes that could only mean wonderful things for her evening. Eventually even Lucy shrugged her way out of the lingerie, letting Alex’s pleas about wanting to taste her outweigh her aesthetic sensibilities—a decision she’d later confirm was absolutely worth it, with Alex’s tongue on her clit and Maggie’s lips on her chest.

When they finally made it to the bed, Lucy guided Alex up to the pillows as she and Maggie settled in alongside her. “Ready for your turn?”


	25. Lazy Weekend Fluff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from anon: Director Sanvers + fluff (maybe taking care of each other?)
> 
> Prompt from sarcasticallyinspired: Excellent latest chapter of TiNAC, brilliant visuals, nicely done. I was wondering if you'd take a prompt for our troublemaking trio? Something to do with Maggie having so much more hair to play with than the other two, with Alex and Lucy loving it immensely. Vague I know, but yours to do with as you please.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rather short and completely fluffy with some vaguely NSFW dialogue. I didn’t realize how long I had let it go without an update for these three, so apologies there! It’s been a crazy month, but come mid-December or so, I’ll finally be done with most of my hard deadlines!!! In any case, I have another partially done chapter for these three as a V coming up in the next couple of days too, and that one should be a bit longer if life lets up.

“We should do something,” Alex sighed, though she made no moves to actually get up and out of bed.

“It’s Saturday,” Maggie said, fixing Alex with a stern look from her place curled up on the edge of the bed. “We had a long week. I’m exhausted. Just relax and enjoy a lazy morning in bed.”

“At this point it barely still qualifies as morning.”

Lucy finally pulled her head up off of the pillows to glare at Alex. “It’s still the AM, Danvers. Weekends are sacred, and Saturday in bed is my church. So shut up and enjoy.”

“Ah, yes—the gospel according to Lucy,” Maggie teased.

“I tend to make Alex cry out to God an awful lot…”

Alex rolled her eyes and tossed a pillow over at Lucy’s head. “Fuck off.”

“Now it’s starting to sound like a proper weekend morning.”

“Do it on the couch,” Maggie grumbled, gesturing at the heating pad she had been clutching to her stomach since her cramps woke her up early that morning. 

Alex let out a sympathetic noise and gently kissed Maggie’s forehead, throwing an arm around her. She’d been the one popping advil and whining for the heating pad the second she got home from work for the past two days, and she remembered just how sweet Maggie had been then, even going out to the store on a rainy evening when they ran out of her peppermint tea. “What do you want to do today? Watch old movies? Bake something? Play a board game?”

“So you’ve really decided I’m the grandma partner, huh?” Maggie asked, wincing slightly as she let out a laugh. 

“There’s nothing wrong with liking those activities,” Alex assured her, cuddling a little closer and carding her fingers through Maggie’s hair.

“Well…” Lucy trailed off, a teasing smile on her lips. “So long as you don’t start turning down sex in favor of sunrise walks on the beach and knitting projects, I guess you’ll do.”

“Shut it, Lane. You two are the ones that always need to bring sweaters out in case the temperature dares to drop below 60.”

“You know we’d rather have you warm us up, but Kara tends to frown upon that when we’re all out together.”

“She didn’t use to mind when you and I cuddled at game nights,” Maggie corrected Alex, shooting a look of mock accusation at Lucy. “Someone finds it difficult to keep her hands in appropriate places…”

“Someone probably just has everyone’s best interests in mind.”

“Oh really, Luce? And who benefits from traumatizing my little sister?” 

“Well I certainly find it enjoyable… But Lena benefits too.”

“And how does that special brand of Lucy logic work?”

“The quicker I traumatize Kara, the faster she asks us to leave. And the faster she asks us to leave, the sooner she and Lena are left alone. And the sooner they’re left alone…”

“The sooner my baby sister gets to hang out and do totally appropriate things with her girlfriend,” Alex cut in, folding her arms across her chest.

“Mhm, just like we come home and do totally appropriate things here.” Lucy dragged herself out of bed before Alex could whack her with a pillow. “I’m putting on water for tea!” 

“Want me to get you a double-toasted bagel?” Alex asked Maggie, but Maggie just shook her head no, burying further under the blankets as she curled tighter into Alex’s side. 

“Maybe we cuddle and watch something?” came Maggie’s muffled voice.

“Sounds perfect.”

Once Lucy came back in with a plate of waffles for Alex, a bowl of fruit for herself, and a few mugs of tea, all precariously balanced on the tray they used for their lazy mornings, Maggie propped herself up and grabbed one of the mugs, smiling as the steam curled up from it, wafting the smell of peppermint in her direction. 

“What do you wanna watch?” Alex asked passing the remote over to Maggie. 

“Something light,” Maggie mused, trying to think of movies they hadn’t seen lately that fit her mood for the morning. “What about Legally Blonde?”

“I’m down.” Alex looked over at Lucy who nodded her agreement.

By the time they finished eating and drinking their tea, Elle had been accepted to Harvard and Maggie had found her way between Alex’s legs, her back propped against Alex’s chest as Alex scratched her head, pulling soft, contented noises from Maggie. 

“Should we get out Lucy’s curling iron and give you the Elle Woods look?” Alex asked, curling a section of Maggie’s hair around her finger before letting it go, smiling at the way the waves held slightly. 

“Not today,” Maggie laughed. 

“You’d look cute with some curl, I bet.”

“She looked way better with my french braids,” Lucy chimed in, already pulling out her phone to get the photos she had taken. Figuring a long enough conversation was about to start, Maggie hit pause on their movie. 

“Ooh, Kara posted some article about all these different braid styles. We should have a contest.”

Maggie cleared her throat and dropped her head to Alex’s shoulder, looking up at her and trying not to giggle at the upside-down look. “You know, maybe the one with enough hair to have a braid should get to have a say in this.” As it turned out, the following weekend Lucy used her own period as an excuse to demand that competition, and Maggie found herself set up in the middle of the bed, one of her girlfriends on either side of her, nothing but a hair tie and a comb each, as they both made their way through Kara’s list, testing each braid for categories like style, evenness, and endurance. Maggie would have tapped out after the first or second round if it weren’t for Alex’s suggestion that sex, rather than pure exercise, was a better way of testing endurance. Once that change went into effect, she found she didn’t much mind the short bursts of hair styling. 

Lucy made a show of pretending to think about it before shaking her head. “Nope. You already admitted that you like it when we play with your hair.”

“I like it when you do stuff like this,” Maggie clarified, gesturing at her head where Alex’s fingers were once more gently massaging her. She was more than ready to admit that a head, neck, or back massage was her absolute favorite way to end the day. “I did not love it when you kept me captive for an hour trying to, and I quote, ‘braid better than Lois.’”

“It’s an important life skill.” Lucy thought back to the years when her big sister had taught her how to braid, though she’d refused to go out in public, even just on her runs, with Lucy’s braids in, always pulling them out and redoing them first.

“Lois hasn’t braided anyone’s hair in years!”

“You don’t know that. Maybe Clark wears a wig for her.” Alex snorted at the image, and Maggie just shook her head. “Plus, you know I made it worth your while.”

“Alex made it worth my while,” Maggie countered, and she could feel Alex puff out her chest slightly as though proud of the memory. 

“I was the one who suggested she go down on you until I was done.”

“And she’s the one who made me come hard enough to forget all the tugging and pulling at my hair.”

“Alex likes it well enough…”

“I’m sure Alex wouldn’t like it that much if we started pulling her hair out of the bedroom.”

Alex began nodding in agreement with Maggie, but Lucy cut her off: “Patently false. She liked it on the couch, the living room floor, the kitchen table that one time…”

“Point taken,” Alex huffed. “Now, are we ready to go back to the movie?”

“Fine,” Lucy sighed.


	26. Thanksgiving Crack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I despise Thanksgiving (it’s chill) so on more than one occasion I’ve spent it binge watching all 10 Friends Thanksgiving episodes (and sometimes threw in the Will and Grace ones for good measure). There are some obvious duds in there, but I felt like writing some Director Sanvers crack and figured a bit of inspiration from some of the better Friends episodes would make for a fun story.

“Tell me again, Danvers, how did we get talked into this?” Maggie asked, swiping her finger across the spoon she’d been using to layer the tiramisu and “checking it for taste” for the fifth time since she’d begun. 

“What? Hosting Thanksgiving?” Alex studiously avoided eye contact, sounding all too innocent for the amount of food and plates strewn around the kitchen. 

“Hosting, yes,” Lucy cut in, “but more importantly, cooking all this shit.”

“Look, Kara she just—she’s all upset that Eliza won’t be in town. And then she went and told that damn sob story about finally feeling at home with us and how holidays and Eliza’s chocolate pecan pie remind her of it, and how am I supposed to say no to that?”

“Like this: No.” Lucy arched an eyebrow at Alex in challenge.

“You try resisting that puppy dog pout.”

“I do! Every single day! Considering you taught it to her.”

“Okay, well…whatever,” Alex grumbled, turning back to the bowl of mashed potatoes as she desperately tried to whip them the way she vaguely remembered Eliza doing. Truth be told, her memory was a little hazy, given the last time she’d actually been around for the cooking was during grad school, most of which was a blur of long days in the lab and long nights at the bar. 

A knock on the door drew their attention, and Maggie strode across the room to pull it open, revealing Kara standing there with a big smile on her face, clutching a large dish with Lena at her side holding up two bottles of red wine. “Not that Kara’s dessert won’t be lovely, but…” Lena trailed off as she handed over the bottles, catching Alex’s wink from the kitchen. 

“Come in, come in.” Maggie motioned, pulling the door open wide just in time for Winn and James to join the party, handing over two more bottles of wine. “Well, I guess today will be fun no matter what happens,” Maggie mused. Truth be told, she hadn’t spent a Thanksgiving anywhere outside of work since things ended with Emily a couple of years ago. Between tainted memories of family meals and the rather bitter final affair she’d spent with Emily and Emily’s family, Thanksgiving wasn’t exactly her favorite of the holidays, and she typically preferred drowning herself in work and scotch. But if Alex could make her like Valentines’ Day—she would never get all the way to loving the Hallmark holiday—then she suspected the combination of Alex and Lucy’s enthusiasm might just turn her Thanksgiving into something to remember for the right reasons. 

Across the apartment, Kara had settled in next to Alex in the kitchen, her hip leaning against the counter as she surveyed the various bowls and dishes strewn around the room. “Those don’t really look like Eliza’s mashed potatoes…”

“Well if you haven’t noticed, I’m not really all that much like mom.”

“Actually,” Lucy began, though she closed her mouth at the murderous look in Alex’s eyes, grinning only once Alex had turned around once more. 

“It’s just sad that Eliza won’t be able to be here this year,” Kara offered with a shrug.

“Yes, so very sad that you won’t get to hear her gush about your promotion, since of course you got your job back before she could find out about that whole debacle, and your stable relationship and your latest adventures saving the city.”

“Don’t forget the chocolate pecan pie,” Kara added with a cheeky wink, smiling when Alex just rolled her eyes.

“I see you opted not to make one yourself?”

“Nah, nothing will ever be as good as Eliza’s.”

“So glad you have me trying to recreate the rest of her dishes,” Alex huffed, motioning to all the food she—well, she, Lucy, and Maggie—had prepared.

“Taste test!” Kara declared, dipping her finger into the bowl but finding it (ineffectively) shoved away by Alex. “Okay, Eliza never hit.” At Alex’s near growl, Kara backed away, heading back to the living room to join the rest of the group while Lucy went to take her place with Alex in the kitchen. 

“Can you put Kara’s trifle into the fridge?” Alex asked, motioning to the dish that had been left on the counter.

“Sure,” Lucy called back, peeking under aluminum foil to see how it had turned out—an action she instantly regretted when she nearly gagged at the unexpected combination of odors. “What’d you say this was, Danvers?”

“Uh, I don’t know, she borrowed one of James’ cookbooks, I think—some old recipe that he told her Winn loves.”

Lucy thought back to the dinners she had spent with James since he got together with Winn. She was fairly certain nothing had ever smelled quite like this. Before she could go ask him, Alex’s phone buzzed loudly against the marble countertop. 

“It’s your mom,” Lucy said, holding the phone out to Alex, who just groaned as she answered, tucking it between her ear and her shoulder as she pulled open the oven door to check on the few things they’d learned long ago were best cooked by methods other than heat vision. There were only so many times they could end up with fried cheese before deciding that they still needed to put the macaroni and cheese in the oven. 

Lucy headed across to the living room and joined the group, turning to Kara during a lull in the conversation. “Hey, just so I can label everything, what dessert did you end up making?”

“Oh, well, after Snapper told me how terrible my meringues and my scones were, I went with that trifle Winn is always raving about! Followed the recipe to the letter—seemed a bit weird, but whenever I go with my gut in baking, it always seems to lead me to trouble.”

“Right, right.” Lucy nodded, trying to find a tactful way to figure out what was up with it. “Now, uh, what goes into such a dessert?”

“Oh! Yeah, it looked pretty great, huh?”

“Mhm, sure.”

“Well, it’s got all these layers—mm, have you tried Noonan’s new 7-layer bars? So good!” Nodding impatiently, Lucy motioned for Kara to continue. “Right, so first there’s a layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam, then custard—and I even made it from scratch—then raspberries, more ladyfingers, then beef sautéed with peas and onions, then a little more custard, and then bananas, and then I just put some whipped cream on top!”

Fighting the urge to gag, Lucy tried to keep a straight face. “What, uh, what was that one right before bananas?”

“The beef? Yeah, I thought it was weird too. But then I remembered that whole fiasco with blood pudding and mincemeat pie, which are most definitely not the desserts I thought they were, and I figured, well, I just don’t quite get British food!”

“Now, was Lena there when you made it, dear?” 

Kara shook her head, looking rather proud of herself. “Nope! I’ve been cooking for her all on my own. Ever since I had, well, some extra time home from CatCo…” Shaking away the melancholy mood, Kara smiled brightly up at Lucy. “Just because I got my job back, though, doesn’t mean I should abandon my attempts at making nice things for my girlfriend!”

With a vague noise, Lucy left Kara to go rejoin the others’ conversation, while she turned her attention to James. Tugging on his sleeve, Lucy glared and dragged him over to the window. 

“What’s up?” he asked.

“What the fuck kind of kind of recipe did you give to Kara?” Lucy hissed, trying to keep her voice low, but attracting Winn’s attention enough that he came over.

“What do you mean? It’s a traditional English trifle.” 

“And does it normally smell like ass and contain beef and peas?”

James just barely stifled a laugh as Winn spluttered and shook his head. “Excuse me, my mom used to make those back before—you know—and they do not smell like ass!”

“Well, something’s wrong with your recipe…”

Shaking his head, James insisted, “No, I’ve used it before. Not my favorite dessert, but it turned out just fine.” 

Winn appeared back at his side a moment later clutching the book that Kara had returned. He thumbed through the pages until he got to the trifle, though when he turned to the second page of the recipe, it stuck together, and he had to pry them apart with a loud crackle. “Oh my god, the pages are stuck together!”

“Winn!” Lucy scolded, earning a confused look from him. 

James sniffed the pages. “It’s jam.”

Lucy rolled her eyes before snatching the book back from James and flipping through the pages. “Let’s see…she made half the English trifle and half a—oh god—half a shepherd’s pie!”

“We have to tell her,” James insisted, but Lena swooped in at that moment and shoved the cookbook back into her bag.

“No, no you will not.”

“What?” they all spluttered.

“She might look fine and well, but she’s just barely getting her confidence back after the whole being fired and losing her mentor and all. She doesn’t have time to make a new one, so we’re just going to eat it and pretend it’s delicious, then I’ll take her home and make sure she forgets all about the recipe she used.”

Lucy snickered. “I take it this has happened before?”

Lena crossed her arms across her chest, refusing to betray her girlfriend’s secrets.

“I’ll tell ya how I made Alex forget the time Kara found all three of us in the DEO gym if you tell me what other horrendous dishes you’ve been forced to stomach.”

“It only happened one other time,” Lena relented with a dramatic sigh. “Supergirl was needed in the middle, and when Kara got back, she couldn’t quite remember which ingredients she had added… As it turned out, she doubled the salt and left out half the sugar.”

“Delicious,” Lucy teased.

“Yes, well, I ate some, and that’s all that she needed to see. And that’s exactly what all of you will do so that she doesn’t end up feeling bad.” The group finally relented, and Lucy made her way over to inform Maggie of her duty for dessert. 

Back in the kitchen, Alex answered the phone. “Hello?” 

“Alex! Happy Thanksgiving,” came Eliza’s voice.

“Yeah, you too. How’s the conference?”

“Well, that’s actually what I’m calling about…” Alex quirked her head to the side, grabbing her phone just in time. “I was going to surprise you, but I think I might be a few minutes late…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I got out of the last day of the conference. I’m in National City!”

“Oh.” Alex tried to muster up some enthusiasm. “Yay?” She knew they’d been trying, but today really was not the day she wanted Eliza’s surprise visit. Between the potatoes that surely weren’t done the right way and the surprise new relationship she definitely hadn’t quite gotten around to mentioning, she could only foresee a veritable disaster. 

“What’s up?” Lucy asked, catching sight of Alex uncorking one of the bottles of red and pouring herself a generous glass. 

“Eliza’s on her way over,” Alex answered, pinching at the bridge of her nose as she tried to convince herself that it would be okay, that after last Thanksgiving, things had been better between them.

“Oh…well, hey, she hasn’t seen the new place! It’ll be good!”

Alex made a noncommittal noise as she pulled the mashed potatoes forward again, uncovering them to stir them a few more times.

“Alex?” Lucy asked.

“Oh, right, yeah, new place—really great, nice and big, real door for the bedroom and all. And if you could, ya know, maybe just not mention to her that we live together, that would be great! I thought we should probably start to set the table now.”

Lucy blinked, trying to follow the rapid digressions. “Why can’t I tell Eliza that we live together?”

“Oh, you know, it’s just that she doesn’t really know we’re dating,” Alex answered, stirring once more at the potatoes and studiously avoiding eye contact. “Do you think we should use the nicer china?”

“Alex…I thought you said you told her.”

“Um, well, I was going to, honestly, I—I really was. But then, this thing happened, you know, and I didn’t.”

“I know that you two don’t have the best relationship, but,” Lucy paused, trying to collect her thoughts. She didn’t want to make Alex feel guilty, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel slighted at the knowledge that Alex could open up about Maggie but force her back into the closet for the holiday. “But, I thought, well, she was so supportive of your being gay and being with Maggie because she saw that you felt like yourself, like you were finally happy. And, I mean, aren’t you just as happy with me?”

“Lucy! No, of course I am,” Alex rushed out, spinning around and resting her hands on Lucy’s shoulders. “This has nothing to do with you or with us—I promise.”

“I get that dating more than one person isn’t exactly…conventional, but why do you think there’s no way she would be happy about us?”

Alex steeled herself, drawing in a deep breath. “The thing is, she, er, well, she doesn’t necessarily like you… I’m so sorry!”

“What? Wait. Why? I’m so likable! What’s not to like?”

With a snort of laughter, Alex kissed Lucy lightly, shaking her head when Lucy continued to let out small noises of protest. “It’s, um, well, Kara maybe called Eliza when I was first arrested…for treason…by you…and then once you agreed to help her, everything happened so quickly that she never really got around to telling her that you also helped to rescue me from Cadmus.” 

“Alex!” Lucy hissed. “What the hell?”

“I didn’t think about it! The world almost ended, and then Kara was in outer space, and then I was in outer space! It didn’t come up.”

“So then how do you know she still doesn’t like me?”

“Er, well, when I went to tell her the first time, she didn’t quite react so well to your name. So then I asked Kara about it, and she mentioned that she told Eliza about the whole almost sent to a black ops prison to rot for eternity thing… I told her that she needed to clear things up with Eliza! But she just—she hasn’t really gotten around to it.”

“That woman owes me,” Lucy grumbled.

“Why? Did something else happen?” 

“Oh, right—plug your nose when you eat the trifle. Just force down a couple bites, tell her how great it was, and then dispose of any remnants.”

“What?”

“You’ll see!” Lucy called over her shoulder as she turned to go tell everyone else that they’d need to pretend like Lucy wasn’t dating Alex and Maggie for the day because someone hadn’t cleared a few things up—a fact that she emphasized numerous times while explaining.

As she was glaring at Kara for the third time, a knock at the door echoed through the apartment.

“I’ll get it,” Maggie volunteered, pressing a chaste kiss to Lucy’s lips, figuring it was the last time she’d have the chance to do so until Eliza left again.

“Eliza!” Maggie greeted, letting herself be wrapped up in a hug. She knew Alex and Eliza had their issues, but she’d be eternally grateful for the woman’s welcoming attitude toward her.

“Maggie, dear, how are you?”

“Doing well, thanks. I’m so glad you were able to come down for Thanksgiving after all!”

“I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see my girls!” At that moment, Kara popped her head around the doorway and took over the welcoming duties, ignoring Lucy’s death glare. She was going to tell Eliza, but between the Red K incident and breaking Alex’s arm, then letting her be shipped off to Cadmus, she had already felt like she’d failed in her duties at protecting Alex enough, and if her mom could blame someone she really thought she’d never see again…well, what did it matter? 

Dusting the nonexistent dust off of her hands on her black jeans, Alex tentatively made her way over to the door. “Mom, hey, how are you?”

“Better now that I’m here. This new apartment—my, it’s really quite lovely. About time you sized up into something now that you and Maggie are together,” she added with a knowing look. “She’s had such a positive effect on you, dear.”

Alex swallowed back any comments about how Lucy had too, choosing instead to wave Lucy forward. At the very least, she could work toward making a better impression this time around. “Mom, look who it is—it’s Lucy!”

Eliza forced a half-smile and nodded. “Mm, oh yes, of course, hello Lucy.”

“Dr. Danvers, it’s great to have you.”

Turning back to Alex, Eliza motioned to her outfit. “You look very nice, Alex.”

“Broke out the new blazer and all,” Lucy chimed in, breaking out her winning smile as she tried to charm the notably cool Eliza. 

“Been keeping notes for her dossier? Need to stay informed for the next time you try to arrest her?”

The normally unflappable Lucy forced a bark of laughter. “Ha! Yeah…that’s a good one.”

“I wasn’t joking.” With that, Eliza spun on her heel and strode past Alex and Lucy and into the kitchen.

“Alex,” Lucy whined. “I’m not used to people not liking me.”

“I believe in your ability to win over my mother,” Alex whispered, covertly squeezing Lucy’s hand while Eliza busied herself with the wine. “C’mon, if you can go from arresting me for treason to being one of the two women I love in less than a year, you can do anything.”

Lucy nodded, trying to convince herself more than anything.

Eventually they all settled down to dinner. As usual, Kara suggested that they go around the table and say a few words about what they were thankful for. “I’ll start. I’m so thankful for my friends and family, to have the chance to be surrounded by people who are so loving and so understanding.” Alex rolled her eyes at that. “Here’s to second chances and new beginnings!”

Alex stood up next. “Personally, I’m thankful for all the love I have in my life, but especially for everyone’s honesty,” she added, glaring at Kara, who studiously avoided eye contact. “Perhaps today should be a day about coming clean and clearing up past misunderstandings.”

“Here, here!” Lucy raised her glass in a toast. “I’m so grateful to have wonderful people like Alex in my life and to have been, uh, welcomed to her home today.” She shrunk back under the force of Eliza’s glare.

“I’m here for culinary adventures of all sorts!” James chimed in, and Winn clinked his glass in a toast.

“Just because it isn’t Eliza’s, I’m sure Alex’s cooking will be great,” Kara said, placing a hand on Alex’s forearm, though Alex simply gritted her teeth. 

“Well, I had lots of help from Maggie and Lucy this year.”

“I know I’m so grateful just to have both of my daughters together. I know how dangerous their lives are, so to know that they’ve kept each other safe from danger and made sure they got home, where they belong, each night—well, that’s the best a mother can hope for, I suppose.”

Alex tried not to bury her head completely in her hands at her mother’s less than subtle jabs at Lucy, drinking more and more of her wine as the barbs continued throughout dinner. Even if it was something of a relief to have none of it directed at her and instead all directed at the woman her mother (mistakenly) believed to be something of a villain and a threat to her daughters, it didn’t make her feel any less guilty for what Lucy was being forced to endure. 

“Tell her,” Alex hissed as dinner was wrapping up. “Go help with the dishes and tell her the truth!”

“Why don’t you just tell her you’re all dating? Then you can work the whole reconciliation narrative in there. I know you’re just blaming me to get out of coming out again.”

“You’re the one that went and poisoned mom against her!”

“She arrested you!”

“Yeah, but you were already badmouthing her earlier because she didn’t like Supergirl!”

“Who doesn’t like Supergirl? I’m a delight!”

“Girls,” came Eliza’s voice. “Are we ready for dessert?” Having been alerted to the particular…recipe of the trifle she hoped there were other possibilities. 

“Oh yeah…can’t wait for Kara’s trifle,” Alex yelled back, mentally preparing herself to suppress her gag reflex. At least everyone had been warned, so she wouldn’t have to worry about Kara’s feeling devastated, even if she really wasn’t all that pleased with her sister at the moment.

“Oh hey, Kara,” Maggie began, turning to speak quietly to her, “is this a traditional English trifle?”

“Yep!” Kara beamed. “Just like Winn’s mom used to make!”

“Very cool. Now, did you use beef or eggplant?”

“Beef.”

“Oh no!” Maggie affected a look of disappointment. “I won’t be able to have any—vegetarian and all. Damn…” With a shake of her head, Maggie stood up and ambled out into the living room toward the large sliding balcony door, not particularly convinced that she’d be able to keep from laughing for much longer. 

Eliza placed the trifle onto the table alongside the cookies that Alex had loudly informed her were all made by Lucy.

“Okay, Winn, since I made this just for you, I want you to get the first taste!” 

Fighting to keep the grimace off of his face, Winn nodded. “Oh, uh, great.” He accepted a plate from Alex and took a dainty forkful with just the top layer of whipped cream and a bit of custard and banana. 

“Don’t be shy, c’mon, you’ve gotta get all the layers in there,” Kara said, watching as Winn scooped all the way in. A pea fell off his fork as he brought it to his mouth, though Kara helpfully picked it up and placed it right on top. “Well?” Kara asked once Winn had the full bite in his mouth.

Winn closed his eyes and forced himself to swallow, willing his tastebuds not to work in that moment. “Mmm—it’s just, just so good,” he finally managed, rubbing his stomach as if to demonstrate just how much he’d enjoyed it.

“Really? How good?” Kara asked, looking beyond excited. It certainly hadn’t seemed appetizing to her, but then again, she knew there were plenty of Kryptonian dishes that would likely seem odd to others. 

“It’s so good that I feel really selfish about being the only one eating it,” Winn answered. If he had to suffer so would everyone else. “I think really everyone should get to taste how good it is. I heard Lena wanted an extra big portion.”

Lena bit back an angry retort and managed a tight smile. “Of course I want to try whatever Kara makes.”

Pretty soon, everyone had plates, and the room filled with loud “mmm” noises.

“You know what, this is so good, I’m gonna go eat it out on the balcony so that I can enjoy the view whilst I enjoy my dessert,” Lucy said, grabbing her plate and heading out to the balcony, where Maggie had moved to avoid losing it during the debacle.

Eliza stood up next. “I actually need to check in on the conference, so I’m just going to step into the other room to enjoy while I’m on this call.”

“Oh here, I’ll help show you the way to the guest room!” Alex volunteered, running after her mom.

“I’m gonna, uh, go to the bathroom so I can…look in the mirror—get an all-angles view,” James offered, avoiding eye contact as he took off for the bathroom.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Kara asked, turning to Winn and Lena, the only ones left at the table. “Does it not taste good? Let me try it.”

A panicked expression flashed across Lena’s face. “What? No, no!” Lena quickly spooned the remaining bites into her mouth and forced herself to swallow, pausing as a wave of nausea hit her. “All gone! So, so good. Couldn’t help myself…”

“Maybe Lucy still has some,” Winn suggested, praying Kara wouldn’t try to take his. He didn’t think he’d survive another bite. 

“It tastes like feet,” Winn hissed.

“It’s not—it’s not that bad,” Lena protested, trying to defend Kara even as she swished her mouth with glass after glass of water.

“Really? Are you kidding?”

“Technically all of the ingredients taste good…on their own. And she made them by hand. Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Ladyfingers? Good. Meat? Good.”

“Yeah but then she mixed them all together with peas and onions and created the trifle from hell!”

Lena shushed him as Kara reemerged from the balcony with Lucy and Maggie in tow.

“So you’re telling me a bird just grabbed it, and then tried to fly away with it…and then just dropped it on the street?”

Lucy threw her arms up. “I know—crazy! What are the odds?”

“The bird did seem to be enjoying it before he dropped it,” Maggie chimed in, a broad smile on her face.

As everyone gradually reconvened in the living room—their plates having been mysteriously swept clean of any extra trifle—Alex grabbed Kara by the arm. “Now that mom’s all full of your…delicious trifle, you need to tell her.”

“You should be the one to tell her!” Kara insisted. “You’re just being chicken about admitting that you have two girlfriends.”

“Oh really? Would you like me to tell her that you lied about having been fired from CatCo?”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Wouldn’t what, dear?” Eliza asked, having wandered over to her daughters.

Alex arched an eyebrow at Kara, who simply shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Alright, you know what? That’s it. You’ve had your chance.”

“What?” Kara spluttered.

“Mom, Kara got fired!”

“What?” Eliza asked, looking confused. 

“Alex!” Kara cried out. “You’re such a tattletale!” Seeing Eliza’s raised eyebrows, Kara sighed. “Well, um, remember how I told you that I chose to take a short leave of absence from CatCo, just like Ms. Grant did?”

“Yes,” Eliza nodded.

“Well, technically, it wasn’t so much voluntary as it was required… But I got my job back since then!”

“She also lied and said she was the only one to save me from getting shipped to Cadmus,” Alex continued. Eliza glared at Lucy. “Lucy helped! And it was her idea in the first place, and she defended Supergirl from General Lane!” 

“Remember that Christmas when the neighbors ran over our mailbox?” Kara asked, her voice raising now. “It was Alex!”

“Yeah, well, Hurricane Gloria didn’t break the porch swing. Kara’s super-strength did!”

“Alex is dating Lucy and Maggie, and they all live together!”

Eliza looked taken aback, and Kara clapped a hand to her mouth, instantly regretting having outed her sister. 

“Kara got drunk on alien rum and broke into the DEO to have sex with her girlfriend in the kryptonite training room!”

Desperate to break the tension, Maggie yelled out, “I dreamt I married President Marsdin, and I wasn’t mad about it!”

“I spilled jam in the cookbook and got the pages stuck together,” Lena admitted, watching as Kara pulled it out of her bag and thumbed through the pages.

“Oh Rao, I wasn’t supposed to put beef in the trifle!”

Taking a deep breath, Eliza massaged her temples. “That’s…a lot of information to get. Lena, thank you for admitting to the jam incident. Kara, no you were not supposed to put beef in the trifle. And it did not taste good. Maggie, I’m sorry dear, but I’m fairly certain she’s a little busy—as, apparently, are you three. Alex, why you felt you had to hide the fact that you had taken such an important step in your relationship…I thought we had moved past that.” Alex rubbed at the back of her neck, then reached out a hand to both Lucy and Maggie. But Eliza wasn’t quite done yet. “I…well, I figured as much about the porch swing…and the mailbox. You didn’t hide the laser vision scorch marks on the swing or the massive dent in Alex’s bumper. And Kara…why couldn’t you tell me these things? I thought we were—I thought we were closer than that.”

“I was…um, I thought I should have been better, should have been more responsible for myself and for Alex.”

Eliza nodded, holding out an arm as Kara tucked herself into her side. “And Lucy, well, apparently you’ve been looking after my daughters after all this time. Standing by Kara’s side with the drinking and the lying and getting no credit for your help. And now you’ve taken on Alex too.” She took a deep breath. “Well, I don’t know what to say. You’re a wonderful human being.”

Alex could feel Lucy inflate under the praise, and turned just in time to see her smiling broadly at Eliza, looking all too proud of herself. 

“Told you she’d like you,” Alex murmured. 

“No thanks to you two tattletale twins.”

“Hey,” Kara whined. 

Lena chuckled. “No she’s right… There must be a special place in heaven for people that hung out with you two in high school.”

“I’ll have you know, I used to be quite popular,” Alex clarified.

Maggie nudged Alex’s side. “Used to be—I think the tense is key there, babe.”


	27. Still in love, even if it's not so public

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Geofender: Can you write something (even a few words) about Sanvers or Director Sanvers not wanting to be touched? Not in a sexual way, I'm talking about a hand on a knee or something like that. You can choose between Alex, Lucy or Maggie. It's just... I'm feeling this way right now. I flinch. I definitely hate this year's holidays.
> 
> Sending you all the best! This time of year can definitely be hard, and hopefully you're able to find ways to carve out some time to take care of yourself--whatever that means for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for moments of internalized homophobia

“I still can’t believe you never saw the original Jumanji,” Maggie gasped, looking over at Alex as though she had been the alien child who crash landed on earth all those years ago. 

Alex looked to Lucy for support, but she just shrugged. “I’m just as shocked. My baby bi heart pined after a young Kristen Dunst in that flannel shirt/overall combo for a very long time.”

“Loser,” Maggie teased.

“Please, you had it just as bad.”

“Maybe.” Fixed with the weight of Alex and Lucy’s combined looks of disbeliefs, Maggie finally gave in. “Alright, alright, yes! But she wasn’t particularly high on my list of formative childhood crushes, so…”

“And who might have landed on that list?” Alex asked, a teasing glint in her eye.

“Well obviously there’s Miss Honey. Duh.” Lucy and Alex both nodded in agreement. “Um…oh! Harriet the spy.”

“That why you became a detective, Sawyer?” 

“Hush. You two are the ones that demanded answers. Um…I had some confusing crushes on one or two of the Sandlot boys, though looking back on it…I had a wonderful partner while I was in the academy who looked and dressed an awful lot like Yeah-Yeah in their childhood pictures.”

“Oh yes!” Lucy squealed. “Some of those boys were adorable. I think all of my friends and I crushed on the older one…” 

Eventually they lapsed into a contented silence, passing around the nearly empty bowl of popcorn until Maggie began the process of cleaning up the pile of blankets and pillows they’d accumulated while watching the movie. 

\---

The next day, they piled out of Maggie’s car at the National City mall, willing to brave the crowds to go see the new Jumanji film, though Maggie maintained it would “never be as good as the original.” As they traipsed through the parking lot, Alex shivered and grabbed for Lucy’s hands for warmth, only to find them rebuffed. 

“Too cold out,” Lucy muttered, stuffing her hands in her pockets and ducking her head in the wind. She saw the hurt expression in Alex’s eyes, but tried her best to ignore it, unable to deal with whatever conversation it would lead to at the moment. 

Once they made it into the mall, they were immediately besieged by crowds—families with crying children, teenagers out of school and hanging out with their friends, young couples still in the thrall of new love and oblivious to the world around them—and jostled closer together. Lucy nearly jumped a foot in the air when Maggie’s arm snaked around her waist, giving her what she supposed was likely meant to be a comforting squeeze. But immediately it felt suffocating, felt ticklish, felt itchy, like her body was rejecting the touch itself. 

“Stop,” Lucy hissed, arching her back to get further away from Maggie’s arm, the loose hug feeling like a vice grip around her. 

“Okay…” Maggie trailed off. “Sorry.” Shaking her head, she tangled her other hand with Alex’s, figuring it probably had to do with the crowds more than anything else. After all, there were plenty of days Lucy’s heart still raced when they were out and couldn’t see a clear path to an exit, when people brushed up against her with no warning or reason, and Maggie had come to expect it. She and Alex had learned to stand on either side of her when they were out, helping to form a kind of buffer when crowds were bad and her anxiety was acting up. They’d learned that sometimes it helped to walk closer to the perimeter of buildings, rather than cutting straight through the heart of it where the crowds were denser. 

Lucy walked a few feet ahead of her girlfriends, taking a moment to breathe deeply, trying to slow her heart rate a little before going into the theater. She was grateful to see that the cinema was crowded, but in an orderly way, the families and couples culled into neat-ish lines and cordoned off with stanchions. 

Eying the length of the lines, Maggie volunteered to go get their snacks, while Alex got in line for their tickets and Lucy ran to the bathroom to let cool water run over her wrists—an old trick she had learned for cooling herself down. She wasn’t sure that it actually did anything physically, but the important part was that she believed it worked, so it helped. 

By the time she got out of the bathroom, Alex had their tickets, and Maggie was at the counter, picking out an assortment of treats to complement the drinks they’d already shoved into their bags, figuring they would save on half the expenses. 

“Hey!” Alex waved, making sure Lucy saw her. “I’m so excited,” Alex gushed. “We haven’t all been together at the movies since our date back around Halloween.” But when her hand settled on Lucy’s hip, Lucy shoved it away.

“Seriously, knock it off,” Lucy snapped. “We’re in public.”

“And?”

“Just—there are kids around,” Lucy huffed.

“It’s not like I’m trying to fuck.” Alex crossed her arms across her chest. 

“I just—just stop it, okay?” Lucy felt like the eyes of everyone in the theater were trained on them, could feel her skin still prickling uncomfortably from the heat of Alex’s touch, felt like she needed to wash and scratch at her skin until the feeling disappeared.

“How are my girls doing?” Maggie asked, popping in with a huge tub of popcorn in her arms and a wide grin on her face. 

“Not now,” Alex mouthed, sensing that Maggie was in one of her giddy moods, which often led to excessive touching—something she normally enjoyed but knew wouldn’t be welcomed today, at least not by Lucy. She might not get what exactly was happening, but she knew better than to force Lucy into anything. 

“Let’s just go see the movie, okay?”

Maggie watched the way Lucy seemed to fold in on herself, glancing between Maggie and Alex’s tangled fingers and the families—heterosexual families, Maggie corrected herself—that surrounded them. She thought back to how she had felt visiting one of her first girlfriends’ families in a conservative town in upstate New York, remembered the way they’d let everyone call them sisters, knowing it was the safer bet, remembered how they hadn’t corrected family members who knew and still introduced them as friends, assuming the introductions were keeping them safe. And she remembered still being struck with that same feeling years later even in liberal towns—places as generally open-minded as National City. And it didn’t matter that she was out and older and far removed from the homophobia of Blue Springs, that she went to Pride and nearly bathed in glitter and painted rainbows on her face, that she proudly asked women out on dates and held them and knew deep in her heart that their love was just as good as anyone else’s. None of it seemed to matter when her heart raced with remembered panic that was no less real for its being past. With a little nod at Alex, she dropped their hands, knowing that their relationship was still secure and sound, even if they weren’t public about it for an afternoon. 

“So, Luce, Alex and I were thinking, maybe it’d be nice to do dinner at home today, instead of going out to eat.”

“Yeah, I’m a little tired,” Alex offered. “Plus, it’s so crowded, I don’t know if we’d be able to get a table.”

“Or we’d get stuck surrounded by crying kids,” Maggie added, wrinkling her nose, remembering the last time she’d ended up with a bawling toddler’s fistful of spaghetti on her leather jacket. 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Alex and Maggie quickly agreed. 

And even though they had offered perfectly legitimate reasons for their choice, Lucy suspected it had a lot more to do with her than they were letting on, and she was beyond grateful, even if she wished it wasn’t the case, wished she knew exactly why there were stretches of time when something as simple as a brush of a hand against her would send her reeling. 

And in the dark of the theater, seated in the aisle seat with Alex to her left, Lucy dropped her hand to Alex’s, finding that she was okay when she controlled it, grateful when Alex dropped her hand back when Lucy froze as fingers tried to actively tangle back into her own. But she still smiled at Lucy just the same, still grinned when Lucy’s hand dropped back on top of hers, when Lucy’s fingers traced distracted patterns across her palm. 

And on the way back through the mall, her girls flanked her, keeping the crowds at bay without once trying to force their way into her space, their animated chatting helping to keep away the conviction that she had messed up somehow, that she was pushing them back into the closet and keeping them from being happy. Because they were still smiling and laughing, still including her in their conversation and making plans for dinner that night and dates later that week. They were still hers, and they were still happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Tumblr @sapphicscholarwrites!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Bubbles](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11966295) by [Iamsuperconfused](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamsuperconfused/pseuds/Iamsuperconfused)




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